Ledger v. Sabourin et al., 2019 ONSC 1893

The plaintiff sustained personal injuries as a result of a motor vehicle accident. At the time of the accident, the defendant driver was not licensed to drive. The sole issue before the court at the commencement of trial was whether the defendant driver possessed the defendant owner’s vehicle with consent at the time of the accident. The defendant owner and defendant driver lived together for 20 years, with the defendant driver not possessing a driver’s licence at any time during that period. The defendant owner did not hide her keys from the defendant driver and admitted that she had knowledge of prior incidents of the defendant driver driving her vehicles. Justice Platana held that the defendant owner did not meet the onus of establishing on a balance of probabilities that her vehicle was in the defendant driver’s possession without her consent. The defendant driver was justified in deeming that he had the defendant owner’s implied consent to possess the vehicle at the time of the accident.