CIVIL LAW
CLU3M Unit 4
Private Law
• Public Law- criminal (Criminal Code violations),
constitutional (government responsibilities and the
Charter) and administrative (government service
provisions, OHRC, etc…)
• Private Law- tort, contract, family, wills and estates,
property and labour/employment
• Private law deals with disputes between persons and
individuals and companies
• The purpose of civil law is compensation
Private Law
• Public: Crown vs. defense (accused)
• Private- Plaintiff (the party that initiates litigation- legal
action) the Plaintiff will always be suing to receive
damages (compensation)
• Private- defendant- the party whom the action is taken
against
• Public citation: R. v. Brogue
• Private citation Bergman (plaintiff) v. Blais (defendant)
Mitchell (Guardian ad litem of) v. James (2007)
Kelsey Mitchell (6) was playing with a friend when she
decided to run home and get her bicycle. As she crossed
the street a car struck her. Guardianship of Mitchell sued
Brian James for negligence.
James was driving the speed limit however there were
signs indicating that there were children playing. James
stated he was taking every reasonable precaution and it
was simply because Mitchell ran out into the street.
What would the trial judge have to consider?
Mitchell (Guardian ad litem of) v. James (2007)
1.
2.
3.
Was James Negligent?
Where Kelsey Mitchell’s Parents also negligent by contributing to
the accident in some way?
Did Kelsey herself contribute to the accident?
• The judge determined that James was 75% liable- he may have been
driving the limit but he should have been able to see a child running
down a driveway and therefore could have easily avoided her
• The judge determined that the parents had taught their daughter the
rules of the road for her age. They exercised the normal standard of
care for parental supervision.
• The judge determined that Kelsey was 25% liable for her accident-
she knew the rules of the road and she failed to follow them.
Civil Action
• Small Claims Court (up to $25,000 claims)
• Anything higher goes to the Superior Court of the
Province
• See handout for stages of a Civil Action
• Pleadings are documents that are formal allegations by
parties regarding their claims and defences
• Class Action lawsuits- are legal cases filed by one or
more individuals on behalf of a group
Baryluk v. Warner Brothers Entertainment Inc. (2005)
Plaintiff is a member of a band called “the Wyrd Sisters”. She was
seeking an injunction* to prevent the defendants from distributing the
motion picture Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The plaintiff alleges
that there is a short clip featuring a performance by a three member
band. The plaintiff claims that the band in the clip is called “The Weird
Sisters” from the book the movie is based on. Baryluk states that the
name Wyrd Sisters has been her registered trademark for 15 years.
She is suing for $40 million.
Defendants claims that they make no mention of the name of the band
in the movie and they have no intention of doing it
The court denied the plaintiff’s claim, stating it was highly unlikely that
people will confuse a folk group from Manitoba with a group based on a
Harry Potter novel, therefore there is no case and no need to remove
the clip from the movie.
Summary
• Civil courts try to determine the balance of probabilities-
on a scale which story carries the most weight
(correctness)
• Has the defendant breached the standard of care of a
reasonable person in society
• Has the defendant intentionally caused harm to an
individual (this can overlap with criminal law)
• To what extent is the defendant and/or plaintiff liable for
the loss suffered
Damages
• Overall goal of any civil case is for the procurement of
some kind of ‘damage’
• Usually damages comes in the form of financial
compensation
• Over the years the amount of financial compensation
available for specific claims has become regulated
• “The Trilogy”
• Young v. Bella