In Meloche v. McKenzie, a decision of Mr. Justice Terrence Patterson, it was held that CPP disability benefits are deductible from an award of damages for pre-trial income loss in a Bill 59 motor vehicle case. It was also ordered that future CPP benefits were to be held in trust for the tort defendant.
The rationale for the deduction was that CPP disability benefits were “tied to a recipient’s inability to engage in the act of gainful employment. In other words, as a result of a loss of earning capacity.”
To date, Ontario courts have generally refused to deduct CPP benefits from personal injury damages awards (see, for example, Dubé v. Penlon (1994), 21 C.C.L.T. (2d) 268 (Ont. Ct. (Gen. Div.)), so this decision will have broad implications.