Alberta No Fault Insurance Hammered

A recent Alberta case has shaken the foundation of No-Fault Insurance throughout Canada.
The Court ruled that Alberta's cap on pain and suffering of $4,000 for minor whiplash claims
violates the Charter rights of injured Albertans, by denying them fair compenstaion for their injuries.
 
The judge found that the cap on damages “sacrifices the dignity of minor injury victims at the altar of reducing insurance premiums ... Specifically, the message is that their pain is not as worthy of conventional non-pecuniary damages because of the nature of their injuries, despite that their injuries may be more painful and enduring than other types of injuries.”

The Alberta decision concludes that if you have to control premiums, if you want to control costs, it isn’t off the
backs of innocent accident victims, because that’s discriminatory. Lawyers in provinces with similar caps on soft-tissue injuries are watching the Alberta decision with great interest. The issue could drag out for a long time, as it will likley end up going all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.

For more see http://cbanational.rogers.dgtlpub.com/2008/2008-06-30/pdf/tipping_the_balance.pdf