The Future of Personal Injury Litigation in Ontario: Where Have We Been? Where Are We Now? Where Are We Going?

• Author: Roger G. Oatley
• Pages: 333-343



TheFutureofPersonalInjury

LitigationinOntario

WhereHaveWeBeenWhereAreWe

NowWhereAreWeGoing

Roger G. Oatley*

AWHEREHAVEWEBEEN

 IntheOldDays

WhenIlookbackoverthethirtysixyearsinwhichIhavepracticedas

apersonalinjurylawyerIrealizethatwehavebeenonquiteajourney

Iwascalledtothebarinandthingswereveryverydierentthen

Foronethingeveryonewhohadsueredaninjuryhadtherighttosue

withoutrestrictionforeveryformofdamagerecognizedbythecommon

lawTherewerenothresholdsTherewerenodeductiblesTherewere

nodiscreteheadsofdamage

In this environ mentt he practice of personal injury law was very

dierent The small claim s courts did a lively business hearing ca ses

wherelitigantsfoughtearnestlyoverpropertydamageandtrivialinjur-

iesArticlingstudentslikemewhoworkedforrmswiththissortof

practicespenthalftheirtimeinsmallclaimscourtarguingthesecases

Virtuallyanylawyercouldhandleapersonalinjuryclaiminthosedays

becausetheclaimsweresosimpleAndjustabouteverybodydidLile

didweknowinthosedayswhatchangesandcomplexitieswereahead

 RogerGOatleyisapartnerwithOatleyVigmondLLPinBarrie