View cases - Stewart McKelvey

- 21 -employment with Bennett Dunlop for a short period of time following his dismissal fromCapital Pontiac. I am satisfied that Mr. Coppola was not dismissed from his employment withBennett Dunlop for cause. His earnings at Bennett Dunlop will be taken into account inestablishing his damages for the wrongful dismissal. I am also satisfied that Mr. Coppola didmake enquiries of other automobile dealers in Regina but was unable to find similaremployment. In any event, since the onus lies on the plaintiff in this case to prove failure tomitigate, and because no evidence was presented by the plaintiff that similar positions wouldhave been available to Mr. Coppola at similar rates of pay, I find that failure to mitigate is notan issue in this case. In my view, the steps which Mr. Coppola took within weeks of hisdismissal to establish a mortgage brokerage business with Mr. Drayton was entirelyreasonable in the circumstances given his experience in sales and financing.2011 SKQB 318 (CanLII)‘Wallace’ type damages[51] Mr. Coppola also seeks damages for mental distress caused as a result of the mannerin which he was dismissed without cause by Capital Pontiac. The law regarding the awardingof damages beyond compensation for breach of the contract for failure to give reasonablenotice was recently clarified by the Supreme Court of Canada in Honda Canada Inc. v.Keays. An overview of the state of the law was provided by Mr. Justice Bastarache. He stated(at para. 50) that the general rule, which stems from the century old British case of Addis v.Gramophone Co. [1909] A.C. 488 (H.L.), is that damages allocated in an action for wrongfuldismissal are confined to the loss suffered as a result of the employer’s failure to give notice