Punitive damages

Gill v. Singh, 2011 ONCA 770, released today, has some useful language about when punitive damages are available:

(b) Punitive damages

[8]              This was not a case for punitive damages which in law are reserved for exceptional cases.  Malice was neither pleaded nor proven as found by the trial judge.  The lack of an apology standing by itself did not, in our view, provide an adequate basis for punitive damages. The other factors identified by the respondent as justifying punitive damages namely, late admissions at trial, were matters of trial tactics that would more appropriately be taken into account with respect to the costs of the trial.