Horsley v. MacLaren

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Horsley v. MacLaren, [1972] S.C.R. 441 – The Ogopogo case – is a leading Supreme Court of Canada decision where it was held that there is no duty at common law to rescue or aid anyone in distress. Furthermore, "a person who imperils himself by his carelessness may be as fully liable to a rescuer as a third person would be who imperils another."

1 Background
2 Opinion of the Court
3 See also
4 External link

[edit] Background

MacLaren was the owner and pilot of a boat called the "Ogopogo". He invited several friends out on his boat which included Mr. Matthews, Mr. Horsley, and Mr. and Mrs. Jones. During their cruise, Matthews fell overboard into the icy water which caused him to have a heart attack and die. MacLaren backed the boat up to rescue Matthews not knowing if he was alive. Horsley jumped into the water to save Matthews but he was also overcome by the cold water. Mrs. Jones then jumped in to help them both. Mr. Jones moves the boat into a better position and enables the three guests to be rescued. In all, Mr. Matthews, Mrs. Matthews and Mr.Horsley were killed.

[edit] Opinion of the Court

The Court held that "encouragement by the common law of the rescue of persons in danger would ... go beyond reasonable bounds if it involved liability of one rescuer to a succeeding one where the former has not been guilty of any fault which could be said to have induced a second rescue attempt."