The Supreme Court of Canada has reached beyond the grave to award damages to relatives left behind after a distraught Quebec man went on a murderous rampage that left his wife and two children dead.
The heart-rending case forced the court to come to grips with one of the most difficult tasks a judge can face - putting a price on pain, terror and the emotional ripple effects a murder has on a victim's loved ones.
A murder-suicide should not rob victims and society of their chance to express abhorrence, the judges said Wednesday, even if the only available route is to extract modest damages from the killer's estate.
They ordered the estate of Martin Brossard to pay $10,000 to his dead wife's family.
"In the case before us, the particularly serious and horrific nature of the acts committed by Martin Brossard before he took his own life cannot be disregarded," Mr. Justice Louis LeBel wrote for a 7-0 court majority. "He killed a woman and young children whom he was supposed to love and protect.
"Awarding exemplary damages seems entirely appropriate in the circumstances to denounce those acts and affirm the importance of the right to life."
Toronto lawyer Brad Elberg said that generations of judges have struggled to come to grips with the task of assigning a monetary sum to human suffering.
"The court is essentially saying that some acts are so reprehensible that there is genuine social value in awarding punitive damages against a dead person simply to show society's abhorrence for what they did," Mr. Elberg said. "While a judgment like this will only apply to a finite number of cases, it is a fascinating instance of the court quantifying suffering and loss in the most horrific human circumstances. That is an incredible exercise for a court to undertake."
The case adds an important element to a checklist the Supreme Court assembled over the years to help guide judges awarding damages. It includes the circumstances of a death; the ages of the deceased and the relative; the nature and quality of their relationship; and the ability of the relative to manage the emotional consequences of the death.
The tragedy unfolded on April 22, 2002, after Mr. Brossard slipped into the home where he had lived with his family until six months earlier. After strangling his wife, Liliane de Montigny, and drowning their two young daughters - Claudia and Béatrice - he wrote a note raging against Ms. de Montigny.
Then, Mr. Brossard hanged himself.
"You've taken all my pride," his note said. "I won't share my wife and especially not my children. A family is a father and a mother. ... Six months ago, you made a choice. You didn't want me to come back. Now, it's my turn. I'm pigheaded, too. I didn't have to the right to do what I did, but neither did you."
The punitive damages claim was lodged by Marcel de Montigny - Ms. de Montigny's father - and the dead woman's sisters, Sandra and Karen de Montigny. A Quebec Superior Court trial judge rejected it, saying it was pointless to use damages to punish or deter a dead wrongdoer.
The Quebec civil bar was abuzz Wednesday over the expansion of punitive damages and the possibility of awards that total many millions of dollars in future class-action lawsuits.
Jean-Philippe Groleau, a Montreal litigator, said that few expected to see the court rule that a punitive damage claim can succeed in the absence of compensatory claims.
Plaintiffs in large class-action lawsuits will henceforth have a considerably easier time obtaining punitive damages against corporations, Mr. Groleau said. "This is a very significant change in the legal landscape which provides fertile ground for class-action lawyers."
However, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, Jean-Félix Racicot, expressed disappointment at the size of the award to his clients. Similar amounts have been awarded to the owners of dogs that were maliciously poisoned, Mr. Racicot said.
"It seems human life has less value than a person's reputation, under our law," he said. "I know we like to distinguish ourselves from the American way of thinking, where millions are handed out in cases like this, but it seems like we've decided that since human life is priceless, we won't put a dollar value on it."
In the de Montigny case, the trial judge noted that the victim's sisters have fared better emotionally than her father has: "Although more private, his pain was nonetheless as intense, painful and traumatic as theirs," he said. "It will undoubtedly be hard for him to resign himself to the loss of his daughter and two granddaughters."
With a report from Les Perreaux in Montreal