Simon's Legal Resources

Statutory Interpretation - "Control"

. Westjet v. Lareau

In Westjet v. Lareau (Fed CA, 2025) the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed a Federal Court appeal, this where the "legal question before this Court is the scope of the safety category: when is a flight disruption "“within the carrier’s control but ... required for safety purposes”" under section 11 of the Regulations?"

Here the court considers the statutory interpretation of the term "control":

[81] ... The noun "“control”" means "“the power to influence or direct … the course of events”" (The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) sub verbo "“control”") or "“the condition of being directed or restrained”" (Webster’s New World College Dictionary (2018) sub verbo "“control”"). A disruption that is within a carrier’s control is therefore one which the carrier has the power to influence or direct, or over which it can exercise restraining or directing influence. Accordingly, a flight disruption is within a carrier’s control where a carrier can take actions to exercise restraining or directing influence over the occurrence or severity of the disruption. These include actions to avoid, where possible, the occurrence of a situation that would trigger a disruption or, where such a situation nevertheless arises, to mitigate the disruption.