CASE ADCOMMENT
GAGNON v DEROY
NEGLIGENCE –
MOTOR VEHICLES –
PERMITTED ON CONDITION THAT IT BE DRIVEN BY OWNER’S CHAFFEUR
WHETHER OWNER LIABLE AND WHETHER CHAUFFEUR IN THE PERFORMANCE
OF THE WORK FOR WHICH HE WAS EMPLOYED – ART. 1054 C.C.
PASSENGER INJURED –
USE OF CAR
–
In the case of Gagnon v Deroy’ the Supreme Court of Canada maintained
an action against an employer for damages caused by his chauffeur “in the
performance of the work for which he was employed.” This judgment was
based upon the last paragraph of article 1054 of the Quebec Civil Code which
stipulates that all “masters and employers are responsible for the damage
caused by their servants and workmen in the performance of the work for
which they are employed.”
In the following discussion it is the intention of the writer to respectfully
submit that the majority decision of the Supreme Court of Canada was an
erroneous one. It is interesting to note that in this case all three judges of
the majority2 were.from the common law system, whereas the two dissenting
judges3 were of the Quebec civil law system. In the opinion of this writer,
the principal reasons for the erroneous judgment are twofold. In the first place,
the common law judges of the Supreme Court failed to understand the full
effect and impact on the last paragraph of article 1054 of the Quebec Civil
Code of the distinction between a-“temporary employer” or what the French
writers call “patron momentan6” and the “regular employer” or “patron
habituel”. Secondly, it is the respectful contention of this writer that the
majority, in their judgments, overlooked the distinction which Quebec juris-
prudence and doctrine has drawn between “dans l’ex6cution de ses fonctions”
or “in the performance of his work” and “‘ l’occasion de ses fonctions” or
“on the occasion of the work for which he is employed”.
The facts of the case under discussion are, for the most part, not in dispute.
One Gaston Bernard planned to take a fishing party to a lake out of town. He
himself was not qualified to drive and asked his uncle, Edouard Gagnon (the
defendant-appellant) for the loan of his car. The defendant told Bernard that
he would lend him his car provided that his chauffeur was willing to drive
and asked Bernard to make the necessary arrangements himself with the
chauffeur. The defendant’s chauffeur agreed to drive the car for Bernard
although the day was Sunday and he was neither paid nor required to work.
1[1958] S.C.1. 708.
2Locke, Cartwright, and Judson JJ.
3Taschereau and Fauteux JJ.
No. 1]
PROBLEMES DE L’ESPACE
Les problmes qui se posent sont nombreux. Comme je l’ai indiqu6 au
debut de cette le~on, des listes ont 6t6 &ablies sous forme de questions (plus
de cent diffrentes). II en existe dans le pr&ieux “Guide to the Study of
Space Law'” de M. Hogan, dans la pr6face au “Symposium of Space Law”
pr6par&e par Miss Eilene Galloway, dans le “Survey of Space Law” de M.
Spencer M. Beresford, dans
‘article de M. Myres McDouga! sur les
“Perspectives for a Law of Outer Space” et en diverses autres publications.”4
Depuis la conf6rence que j’ai faite A Montreal au lendemain du Sputnik II,4
dans laquelle j’6num6rais certaines dispositions qu’il &ait, A mon avis, essentiel
d’incorporer dans un premier accord sur respace, les conditions ont 6volu6.
Le probIbxme de ‘exploration et de 1’exploitation de l’espace s’est consid6rable-
ment 6largi; les progr6s r~alis~s ont souvent ddpass6 les pr~visions46 et ne
s’arr&eront pas; le facteur de coopration
internationale que repr6sentait
l’Ann&e g~ophysique internationale a disparu et n’a pas 6t6 compl&embnt
remplac6; les Nations Unies ont 6t6 saisies du problime tout entier.
C’est en tenant compte de ces 616ments nouveaux qu’il convient aujourd’hui
d’orienter nos recherches. Au cours des prochaines le~ons nous examinerons
plus particuli~rement les probl~mes qui paraissent n&essiter une 6tude imm6-
diate en vue d’une solution A brive 6ch~ance; mais dis maintenant je tiens
A indiquer qu’A mon avis, toute solution susceptible d’6tre accept&e doit tendre
d’abord A
–
–
–
faciliter la continuation sans incident de l’exploration de l’espace, y
compifis 1’exploration des mondes sidraux, et sur une base de
cooperation r6ellement internationale,
sans nuire toutefois
–
–
et surtout sans porter atteinte A la s6curit6 nationale des nations afin
de diminuer cette psychose de peur qui existe en certains pays.
ni A ]a circulation a6rienne conventionelle;
ni h la s&urit6 et au bien-8tre de I’humanit6,
Si tous les Etats y mettaient quelque bonne volont6, –
et il est permis de
dire qu’il y va de leur intrtr,
il ne serait pas n6cessaire de perdre un
temps pr&ieux A discuter du statut juridique de l’espace, de la souverainet6
dans ‘espace ou d’autres notions sans application pratique pour le but recherch6.
44Des juristes sovi~tiques ont mime mentionn~es certains points qui pourraient faire
–
l’objet d’accords.
45Voir note 14 ci-dessus.
46Ainsi, la British Interplanetary Society pr~voyait, en 1953, que le premier satellite
serait lanc6 en 1965, que les premiers essais pour s’approcher de la lune auraient
lieu en 1985: le premier alunissage est pr6vu pour l’an 2000 et aura pent-Etre
lieu
auparavant. (Spaceflight, octobre 1958, p. 303).
No. 1]
CASE AND COMMENT
The chauffeur took the party to the lake, left them there, and drove back
to the city. In the evening of the same day the chauffeur returned to pick
the party up and while they were driving home collided with another vehicle.
An action in damages was taken by one of the passengers in the defendant’s
car for injuries suffered as a result of the accident. The honourable Justice
Girouard of the Superior Court,4 maintained the action in damages against
the three defendants, Edouard Gagnon, Georges Doyon (owner of the other
vehicle) and Alphonse Gagnon, the chauffeur, condemning them to pay jointly
and severally the sum of $8,795.00 with interest and costs. The only defendant
who appealed from the judgment of the trial judge was Edouard Gagnon, the
owner of the vehicle that the chauffeur was driving. The Quebec Court of
Queen’s Bench (Appeal Side) 5 dismissed the appeal by a majority judgment
(two to one) with Mr. Justice Hyde dissenting.
The one fact in dispute was whether the arrangements for the chauffeur
to drive were made by the uncle himself or by his nephew. In an examination
on discovery the uncle testified that the arrangements were made by his nephew
and that he had never asked his chauffeur to drive the car the day of the
accident. On the other hand, in his testimony given in court the chauffeur
claimed that it was his employer, the uncle, who had spoken to him about
driving the car for the nephew.
In the majority judgment of the Supreme Court delivered by Judson J.,
no view is expressed as to what testimony the judges have accepted. However,
in this respect, Judson J. did say that he believed that the contradictory
evidence was of no importance to the action, since, in any case, it was left
to the chauffeur himself to decide whether or not he wished to drive that day.
“… I do not think that it makes any difference who asked him to make the trip.
The fact is that the car would only be available for the transport to Gaston
Bernard and his party if Alphonse was willing to drive and Alphonse was free
to accept or refuse.” 6
According to Judson J. the important fact in the case was that the uncle
was furnishing transportation to his nephew and his fishing party by permitting
the use of his car, to be driven by the chauffeur who ordinarily drove it.
Thus it was held by the three common law judges that at the time of the
accident, the chauffeur was “in the performance of the work for which he was
employed,” namely, driving his master’s car. In the opinion of the majority
the governing factor in the case was the insistence by the uncle that his
regular chauffeur drive the car for the nephew. It was also their opinion,
agreeing with Taschereau J. of the Quebec Court of Appeal, that the case
could not be distinguished in its essence from Griinaldi v Restaldi,7 a case
where a car and chauffeur were also provided for a guest.
4Unreported.
5[1957] Que. Q.B., 704.
Supra, footnote 1, at p. 714.
7[19331 S.C.R. 489; [1933] 4 D.L.R. 647.
McGILL LAW JOURNAL
[Vol. 6
The dissenting judgment of Taschereau J. in the Supreme Court is based
primarily on the fact that the driver was driving in the interest of another
person and was not acting for the profit or advantage of his employer. Tasche-
reau J. emphasizes the fact that it was a pleasure trip in which the defendant
didn’t participate and which was not arranged in his interest. Thus Taschereau
J. concludes that in view of the foregoing facts the chauffeur, at the time
of the accident, was not “in the performance of the work for which he was
employed”.
It is interesting to note that Taschereau J., unlike his common law colleagues
of the Supreme Court, seems to attach some importance to whether or not
the arrangements with the chauffeur were made by the uncle himself or by
the nephew. For, in delivering his judgment, Taschereau J. cites parts of
the uncle’s testimony given in the examination on discovery which established
that arrangements were made by the nephew and not by his uncle. Thus,
Taschereau J. appears to have accepted the testimony of the uncle as opposed
to that of the chauffeur.
In his judgment Fauteux J. applies the same line of reasoning as that of his
Quebec colleague. Moreover, for Fauteux J., what was significant was the
fact that the chauffeur had never worked for the defendant on Sundays and
had never been paid by him for that day. In answer to what is the basic
if the
argument in the majority decision, Fauteux J. contends
evidence could show that the permission of the uncle to use the car depended
on whether or not his chauffeur would consent to drive it, it does not mean,
in view of the circumstances of the case, that this assertion of authority by
the uncle was sufficient to create a relationship of master and employee between
the defendant and the chauffeur.
that even
Finally, Fauteux J., like Tasdhereau J., also appears to have accepted
the
testimony of the uncle as opposed to that of the chauffeur. In this respect
he said the following:
lui-m~me entendait rester 6tranger et suivant
.. .En somme, il a assujetti Id permission donn~e a son neveu d’utiliser son
camion, A l’6tablissement d’une entente entre ce dernier et Gagnon, entente A
laquelle Gagnon pouvait
laquelle
participer A I’expidition au mame titre que Bernard ou en devenir le propos6.”s
Neither Taschereau J. nor Fauteux J. consider as a possible argument
the “temporary employer” and
for the defendant the distinction between
“regular employer”. It is respectfully submitted by this writer, however, that
a strong argument can be made for the defendant on the ground that at the
time of the accident the nephew was the “patron momentan” or “temporary
employer”, and therefore, it was the nephew and not the defendant who was
responsible for the damages caused by the chauffeur. This distinction between
“temporary” and “regular” employer which we have inherited from the French
the “employer-employee”
authors
clause of article 1054 C.C. A master or employer is responsible under 1054
the construction of
is fundamental
to
8Supra, footnote 1, at p. 718.
No. 1]
CASE AND COMMENT
C.C. because he is one of those having a right of control. This point is important
when the necessity arises of deciding, which of the two masters or employers
is responsible for the damage caused by a servant or workman –
the
“temporary” or “permanent” master. The jurisprudence and doctrine
in
Quebec have held that the “temporary” master or employer is responsible
for the damages caused by the servant if, at the time of the accident, the latter
had effective legal control within the meaning of 1054 C.C. Effective legal
control has been defined by the jurisprudence and doctrine as the right to
give orders and instructions to the employee and to have over him exclusive
authority. Hence, if at the time of the accident the “temporary” employer
had exclusive authority over the servant or workman who caused the damage,
then that employer is responsible and the “regular” employer is exonerated
of all liability.
The two outstanding cases on this very point which our Courts have closely
followed are Bain v Central Vermont Railway9 and Quebec Liquor Com-
mission v Moore.10
In the first case”
the principle of “temporary” and “regular” employer
was laid down by Cross J. in his judgment rendered in the Quebec Court
of Appeal and reaffirmed by Lord Dunedin who delivered the judgment of
the Law Lords of the Privy Council. Lord Dunedin said at pages 415 and 416:
“. it is well established that the master, in whose general service a man is,
is not responsible for the tortious act of the man if the control of the master
has been, for the time being, displaced by the power of control of another master
into whose temporary service the man has passed by being lent (even gratuitously),
or sub-contracted. In such a case, it is the ‘patron momentan&’ and not the
‘patron habituel’ who is responsible …
… In the words of the judgment reported by Sirey you are to look to the ‘patron
momentan6 qui avait ce pr6pos6 sous ses ordres et sur lequel il avait une autorit6
exclusive au moment de l’accident.’ It is nothing to the purpose that there may be
at the same time a sort of residuary and dormant control of the ‘patron habituel.'”
In the second case’ 2 cited by this writer, Mignault J. in his judgment
expounded the same principle of “temporary” and “regular” employer. In
his discussion of the responsibility of the master for the damage caused by
his employee, Mignault J. said the following at page 913 of the Dominion
Law Reports:
“.. .
if a third person takes control for the time being, whether by agreement
with the employer, or by interference in the conduct of an enterprise, he becomes
liable for the tort of the servant just as if he were the employer. The distinction
lies between the ‘patron habituel’ (regular employer) and the ‘patron momentan6′
(employer for the time being) which often allows the regular employer to escape
all responsibility.”
9[1921] 2 A.C., 412.
10[1924] S.C.R. 540; [1924] 4 D.L.R. 901.
“lSupra, footnote 9.
12 Supra, footnote 10.
McGILL LAW JOURNAL
[Vol. 6
Finally, the principle of “patron momentan6” and “patron habituel”
is
succinctly expounded by Andr6 Nadeau 13 who says that if an employer puts
his employee at the disposition of a third person, it is essential to discover
to which of the two he belongs at-the time of the damageable act. There would
only be a displacement of the responsibility of the employer to a third person
if the former had abandoned to the latter the authority and right to give
instructions.
It is to be noticed that, in the case under discussion, at no time was the
chauffeur instructed by the uncle to drive his nephew. Whether the arrange-
ments were made by the uncle or by the nephew, it was left to the chauffeur
himself to decide whether or not he wished to drive that day. The fact that
the uncle might still have had, at the time of the accident, what Lord Dunedin
in Bain v Central Vermont Railwayl~a referred to as “dormant or residuary
control”, is of no consequence. What is important to know is who, at the
time of the accident, had. the right to give instructions to the chauffeur and
who had authority over .him. It is the respectful submission of this writer
that it was the nephew who had such control at the time of the accident; and
therefore, as “patron momentan6”,
the uncle, was
responsible for the damage caused by the chauffeur. The fact that the uncle
insisted that the chauffeur drive his car has no bearing in this case on the
determination of responsibility. The legal control at the time of the accident,
and at no other time, is what is important
in the determination of the
responsibility. Fauteux J. made this same point in his dissenting judgment.’
Finally the fact that the chauffeur was not paid by the nephew is also of
no consequence. For, as Nadeau points out in his treatise,’5 the payment of
salary of an employee is not the criterion for the determination of responsibility.
In Bain v Central Vermont Railway, Lord Dunedin said the following about
salary :16
the nephew, and not
“. .. Payment is not everything; it is a circumstance pointing to who
employer but the real test is control ….
.
is the
Although the majority of the Supreme Court does not explicitly refer to the
principle of “patron momentan6” and “patron habituel” there is no doubt
that they had considered it as a possible argument for the defendant. However,
they indirectly dispose of it by their contention that the case under discussion
and the Grimaldi v Restaldiloa case are in principle indistinguishable from one
another. In this respect the writer respectfully disagrees with the majority of
the Court, and contends that the two cases can, in fact, be distinguished.
In the Grimaldi v Restaldi case the defendant placed his automobile at the
disposal of the plaintiff, his physician, and instructed his chauffeur to drive
13 Nadeau, Andr6, Traiti de Droit Civil du Quibec, t. 8, p. 359.
13aSupra, footnote 9.
14Supra, footnote 1, at p. 717.
lsNadeau, op. cit., t. 8, p. 364.
‘ 6Supra, footnote 9, at p. 416.
6 aSupra, footnote 7.
No. 11
CASE AND COMMENT
injured by the negligent driving of
the plaintiff to such places as he might direct in order that he might make
some professional calls before making a similar call on the defendant himself.
The plaintiff was subsequently
the
chauffeur and sought to recover damages against the latter’s employer. In
this case it was held unanimously by the judges of the Supreme Court,
confirming the judgments of both the Quebec Court of Appeal’ 7 and trial
court,18
that the plaintiff was not at the time of the accident the “patron
momentan6” of the defendant’s chauffeur. The Court held that the plaintiff
was merely a guest in the defendant’s car and had no control over the chauffeur
or the right to give him instructions. Thus the action was maintained against
the defendant on the ground that the chauffeur was “in the performance of
the work for which he was employed.”
In Grimaldi v Restaldi it was established that the master, who was owner
of the automobile, had given explicit and precise instructions to his chauffeur
and that the latter was acting in his interest. There is no indication at all
that the patient (the defendant in the case) bad intended to transfer
the
right to give instructions to his chauffeur to the doctor (the plaintiff). It was
the defendant himself who suggested that the plaintiff should use his automobile
and chauffeur. The plaintiff gave the addresses to the chauffeur who took him
in succession to each of them according to the instructions received from his
master. It is true that the doctor had to give to the chauffeur the necessary
indications so as to be taken to the places agreed upon, but this did not
mean he had authority to give orders to the chauffeur. The words of Rinfret
J. who delivered the unanimous judgment of the Supreme Court in Grinaldi
v Restaldi were as follows :19
‘% . . There would have been no difference in the case if the appellant (defendant)
had sent his car to fetch the respondent (plaintiff) and bring him directly to the
appellant’s home. The different calls made before the visit to the appellant’s residence
had been agreed upon and the chauffeur was driving the respondent according
to the instructions he had received from the appellant . ..
. .In such circumstance, there was no substitution of control or supervision and
the appellant remained responsible for the acts of his chauffeur who, in fact, was
carrying out his orders at the time of the accident.”
In the opinion of the writer, from the foregoing it can be seen that the
Grimaldi v Restaldi case and the case under discussion are in many respects
very different from one another. In the first place, as Tachereau J. himself
points out in his dissenting judgment,20 the facts in the case under discussion
happened on a Sunday, a day on which the chauffeur had never before worked
for his employer. Secondly, in the case being discussed, at no time were there
any instructions given by the uncle to his chauffeur nor did the chauffeur
17(1933), 54 Q.B. 197.
18Unreported.
19Supra, footnote 7, at pp. 649, 650 of the D.L.R.
2oSupra, footnote 1, at p. 713.
McGILL LAW JOURNAL
[Vol. 6
drive the nephew according to the instructions he had received from his master.
Hence, at the time of the accident, the chauffeur was not carrying out any
orders of his master. In fact, if we accept the testimony of the uncle, as Tas-
chereau and Fauteux JJ. do, then all arrangements with the chauffeur were
made by the nephew himself. Thus no contact at all was made between the
chauffeur and uncle on the day of the accident. Surely this is sufficient proof
of the inexistence of any legal relationship between the uncle and his chauffeur
at the time of the accident.
As a subsidiary argument for the defendant, the writer respectfully submits
an important distinction which was referred
to at the very outset of the
discussion. This is the difference between “dans l’ex&ution de ses fonctions” or
“in the performance of the work” and “A l’occasion de ses fonctions” or
“on the occasion of the work for which he is employed” The distinction is
based upon the difference between the French version of article 1054 of the
Quebec Civil Code which states “dans l’ex&ution des fonctions” and the
corresponding provision (article. 1384) of the Napoleonic Code which reads
“dans les fonctions”. The doctrine and jurisprudence in Quebec have held that
this substitution by the Codifiers of “dans l’ex6cution des fonctions” has
some significance.
The tendency in France is to hold the master or employer liable for damage
caused by his servant or employee even, on the occasion of the work for which
he is employed or with the aid of facilities furnished by his master or employer.2′
In Quebec, however, in view of the difference in texts, it is generally admitted
that the responsibility of the master or employer is not so extensive. Mignault
says the following about this distinction :22
“La formule de notre code est plus exacte que celle du Code Napoleon, qui dit
que les maitres et commettants sont responsables du dommage caus6 par leurs
domestiques et pr6pos6s dans les fonclions auxquelles
ils les ont employ~s’. Les
maitres et commettants ne sont pas, en effet, responsables, dans tous les cas, du
dommage que causent leurs domestiques et proposes pendant qu’ils exercent leurs
fonctions: car il se peut que le dommage qu’ils font ait une cause autre que
l’exercice des fonctions qui leur sont confides.”
Nadeau reaffirms Mignault’s view :2
”
. En France, la responsibilit6 du maitre parait s’6tendre, en certains cas, au
dommage causE par son pr~pos6 simplement A l’occasion de ses fonctions, ce qui n’est
pas le cas chez-nous.”
The jurisprudence in Quebec has followed this distinction. In The Governor
and Co. of Gentleman Adventurers of England v Vaillancourt.24 Duff J., in his
judgment, had this to say about the distinction, at page 416:
“…
In France this doctrine has been widely accepted and has more than once
been affirmed by the highest tribunal that the employer
is responsible for the
acts done by his employee d l’occasion of his service. It cannot be insisted upon
2lNicholls, Responsibility for Offences and Quasi-Offences, (1938) at p. 69.
2 2 Mignault, P.B., Le Droit Civil Canadien, t. 5, p. 337.
23Nadeau, op cit., t. 8, p. 367.
24[19231 S.C.R. 414.
No. 1]
CASE AND COMMENT
too strongly that an act done by an employee a l’occasion of his service may or
may not be one for which the employer is responsible under article 1054 C. C.,
depending in every case upon the answer to the question: ‘Was the act done in
the execution of the employee’s service or in the performance of the work for
which he was employed?'”
In Curley v Latreille25 Mignault J., in discussing the differences between
the “employer-employee” clause of article 1054 C.C. and the corresponding
provision of the Frerich Code, said, at page 492 of the Dominion Law Reports:
” .. Thus in the Province of Quebec the master and employer are responsible
for damage caused by their servants and workmen in the execution of the functions
for which the latter are employed, or to cite the English version of art. 1054 C.C.,
‘in the performance of the work for which they are employed.’ This clearly appears
to me to exclude the responsibility of the master for an act done by the servant
or workman on the occasion only of his functions if it cannot be said that this
act was done in the execution of his functions.”
In Moreau v Labelle26 the same principle was applied where it was held
that in interpreting the meaning of the last paragraph of 1054 C.C., it would
be an error in law to assimilate to an offence committed by a servant or
workman “in the performance of the work for which they are employed”, a
similar offence committed “during the period” of that work. Thus, on the
basis of the fact that the nephew of the defendant (in the Moreau v Labelle
case) had deviated from the direct route he was supposed to take in bringing
the defendant’s car home, it was held that at the time of the accident the
defendant’s nephew was not “in the performance of the work” which had been
entrusted to him. Rinfret J., delivering the unanimous judgment of the Supreme
Court, discussed in great detail the cases of The Gentlemen Adventurers
and Curley v Latreille, to which the writer has already referred. It was, in
effect, on the basis of these two cases that the judgment of the Supreme Court
in Moreau v Labelle was finally reached.
Finally, this distinction between “in the performance of” and “on the occasion
of” seems to be the very point upon which a very recent judgment of our
Supreme Court27 was based. In this case, a taxi driver asked his employers
(the defendants) for permission to use his taxi-cab to bring his son back home
for the opening of school. The fare for the trip was fixed in advance and the
driver paid 60%o of it to his employers and retained the balance. The same
per cent was retained by the driver whenever he worked for the defendants.
The driver was involved in an accident and a third party took an action against
the defendants and driver. The trial judge allowed the action against the driver
and dismissed it against the defendants. The Quebec Court of Appeal,28
however, allowed the action against the defendants on the ground that the
driver was “in the performance of the work for which he was employed”
The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the Court of Appeal, dismissing
the action against the defendants.
25(1920), 60 S.C.R. 131; (1920), 55 D.L.R. 461.
26[1933] S.C.R. 201.
27Andrews and Gauthier v Chaput, [1959] S.C.R. 8.
28[1958] Q.B. 425.
McGILL LAW JOURNAL
[Vol. 6
The principal factors which led to the unanimous judgment of the Supreme
Court were twofold. In the first place, it was held that the taxi driver, at
the time of the accident, was not using the cab for the benefit of his employers
but for his own purposes. The taxi driver’s right to use the car as he saw fit
throughout the entire day was a most significant factor. The Court concluded
that on the day of the accident the driver was not operating the car as a taxi-cab
at the request of a patron and for the benefit of his employer. Secondly, there
was the fact that permission to make the trip was first sought and obtained
from both the manager of the defendants and the defendants themselves. Thus,
in the light of the foregoing facts, the Court found that at the time of the
accident the taxi driver was not “in the performance of the work for which
he was employed.”
The writer feels that the above case is an excellent illustration of the
line that must be drawn in our law between “in the performance of the work”
and “on the occasion of the work or service” for which a servant is employed.
It is the contention of this writer that the same line should have been drawn
by the majority of the Supreme Court in the case under discussion. In their
dissenting judgments both Taschereau and Fauteux JJ. implicitly drew the
line when they held the chauffeur was not “in the performance of the work
for which he was employed.”
It was established in the present case that the regular duties of the chauffeur
were to drive the vehicle for transportation of other employees to and from
work in the woods and, when he was not doing this, to work as a logger.
It is the view of this writer that driving the nephew on an off-duty day was
not part of the chauffeur’s regular duties which would place it into the category
of the “performance of the work for which he was employed”. If driving the
car had any relationship whatsoever to the regular functions of the chauffeur,
it was simply “& l’occasion de ses fonctions.”
Moreover, the driving of the car on that day was in the sole interest of
in no way was the trip
defendant-appellant’s nephew and his friends and
arranged for the uncle’s benefit or in his interest, Thus, on this basis, which
also was the principal ground on which the action in Andrews and Gauthier
v Chaput was dismissed, the appeal in the case under discussion should have
been rejected by the Supreme Court.
In summary, the writer feels that the action against the defendant, in the
case under discussion, should have been dismissed on two grounds: in the
first place, that in the circumstances of the case the nephew was the “patron
momentan” or “temporary employer” at the time of the accident, making
him alone responsible for damages caused by the chauffeur; secondly, as a
subsidiary argument, that the chauffeur, at the time of the accident, was not
“in the performance of the work for which he was employed” but, if anything,
simply “on the occasion of his services” for the defendant.
ALAN STEIN*
*Of the Board of Editors, McGill Law Journal; second year law student.
