Mustapha v. Culligan and Saadati v. Moorhead: Claims for Mental Injury

Mustapha v. Culligan (2008)

While replacing a bottle of drinking water at home, Mr. Mustapha saw a dead fly and part of another in it. He developed a serious psychological illness. The Supreme Court held that his injury was real, but that it was not reasonably foreseeable that a person of ordinary fortitude would suffer serious injury from seeing flies in water. His claim failed because the harm was too remote.

Saadati v. Moorhead (2017)

Mr. Saadati was in a car crash. Friends and family testified that his personality changed afterwards, but there was no expert diagnosis of a psychiatric illness. The Supreme Court held that a plaintiff doesn't need to prove a recognized psychiatric illness to recover for mental injury. What matters is whether the injury is serious and prolonged and rises above ordinary emotional upset.

Building a claim

• Describe how the incident changed your daily life, work, relationships and sleep.
• Gather evidence from people who know you, and any medical or counselling records.
• Show that someone of ordinary resilience could foreseeably be harmed in the same way.
• For car accidents in Ontario, special rules apply to claims for pain and suffering, including a threshold and a deductible, so get advice.

Photos from Pexels: The scales of justice beside a laptop · Studying at a desk in a library.

This article is general information for people in Ontario, not legal advice. Rules, forms and deadlines change, and every situation is different. Check the current rule or speak to a licensed legal professional before you act.