Insurance caps: courts in Nova Scotia and Alberta disagree.

• Author: Mitchell, Teresa
• Position: Bench Press

Several years ago a dramatic jump in car insurance premiums caused a number of provincial legislatures to pass laws capping compensation for minor soft tissue injuries. In 2008, Justice Wittmann of the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench ruled that such a cap in the Alberta Insurance Act violated the equality provisions of the Charter of Rights and struck it down as unconstitutional. Now, Justice Goodfellow of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court, has reached a different conclusion, dismissing all of the Charter challenges to the compensation cap on minor injuries in a similar Nova Scotia statute. He added that even if there had been infringements, they would have been justified under s. 1 of the Charter, which allows reasonable limits on Charter rights if they are demonstrably justified...