Case information

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Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

Insurance - Personal insurance - Accidental death and injury - Whether an insured sustained paraplegia directly and independently of all other causes from bodily injuries occasioned solely through external, violent and accidental means - Whether Martin v. American International Assurance Life Co., [2003] 1 S.C.R. 158, is applicable to injuries arising from natural causes acquired in the ordinary course of events - Effect of the words “external” and “violent” in a policy of insurance that requires a compensable injury to have been occasioned through external and violent means.

The Respondent was insured under a policy issued by the Appellant. One term of the policy states in part that the Appellant will pay a benefit for paraplegia (total paralysis of both lower limbs), or loss of use of both legs upon proof that the loss results “directly and independently of all other causes from bodily injuries occasioned solely through external, violent and accidental means”. In 2003, the Respondent had unprotected sex with three women and became infected with Type 2 herpes, causing transverse myelitis (inflammation of the spinal cord), resulting in total paralysis from his mid-abdomen down. A special case was put before the Supreme Court of British Columbia, asking: “Did the Plaintiff sustain his paraplegia ‘directly and independently of all other causes from bodily injuries occasioned solely through external, violent and accidental means’ within the meaning of the Policy?” The special case was answered in the affirmative and the Appellant was ordered to pay $200,000. On appeal, the appeal was dismissed.