The Right to Recover Damages for Personal Injury: Not to be Taken for Granted

I started practicing law in 1982.  This is not so long ago that I can't relate to the verdict from a recently retired Chief Justice of Ontario:

 When I was called to the bar, my recollection is that tort law was in bad shape.  There were many rules and economic factors that made it very difficult for injured people to succeed in litigation.  Tort law also often favored defendants.  For example, there was the guest passenger law that denied all recovery to gratuitous passengers against their drivers.  There was no compulsory auto insurance law.  Damage awards were generally puny and there many immunities.  It was very difficult to get expert witnesses in medical malpractice cases and harder to succeed.  Limitation periods were short and strictly enforced.

While much has been gained for tort victims over the last several decades, much has also been lost, particularly in provinces other than Newfoundland and Labrador.  The loss of tort rights in Canada has in general been accomplished by various provincial legislatures, lobbied by the automobile insurance companies to impose no-fault auto insurance.  British Columbia and Newfoundland and Labrador have resisted the assault on victim rights, because Coalitions Against No-Fault in our provinces have recognized the truth of what an American revolutionary said over two hundred years ago, and taken action:

No man's property is safe

While the legislature is in session.