Law Times

Law Times • April 27, 2015 Page 5 www.lawtimesnews.com new stats show rise of vehicle litigation among civil claims By yamri taddese Law Times f mediation and arbitration have been curbing the number of civil cases coming to Ontario courts in recent years, it's not obvious from numbers recently released by Statistics Canada. In 2005-06, the number of active civil cases at the Ontario Superior Court was just under 300,000. In 2013-14, that number was at 325,000, according to the results of a Statistics Canada civil case survey. Ontario's tally is well above Brit- ish Columbia's total of 101,000 general civil cases. Ontario's civil caseload also makes up half of all civil matters in supe- rior, provincial, and territorial courts in Canada. The Statistics Canada numbers don't include family law matters. But the relatively steady stream of civil matters doesn't necessarily show the lack of impact by alternative dispute resolu- tion methods, according to Toronto law- yer Allan Rouben. "It is entirely possible that the number of actions could remain steady but that those alternative dispute mechanisms are used during the course of the proceed- ing," says Rouben. "So it's not necessarily surprising that the number of civil cases that have been started in the trial courts hasn't gone down. While the federal statistics tell us how many cases were started, they don't tell what percentage of the cases went through to trial." Motor vehicle litigation is the one area that's consistently seeing more claims ev- ery year. Of the 325,220 cases in Ontario, 61,000 consisted of auto injury-related claims while the next most voluminous area of "other contracts" — including landlord and tenant, employment, mort- gage foreclosure, and liens — accounted for 45,417 matters. In light of Statistics Canada's civil survey results, the FAIR Association of Victims for Accident Insurance Reform released a statement calling the number of motor vehicle injury-related claims "unprecedented." "This is an unprecedented number of innocent and injured victims who have not had their claims properly handled by the insurer whom they paid to assist them in a time of need," the association said. "Many of these seriously injured victims are without timely access to treatment and rehabilitation and they face a wait of up to 10 years or more to hold their in- surer accountable." Rhona DesRoches, board chairwom- an of the association, says the numbers are "shocking." "The volume has definitely been going up over time," she says, adding that the numbers ref lect on the auto insurance system as well lawyers who are "taking too long" to see the matters through. LT NEWS Peter Downard's Commitment to You 1. Support for Equality and Diversity 2. Support for Better Access to Justice 3. Support for Balanced Regulation 4. Support for Mentoring and Skills Development www. p e te rd ow n a rd .c a • 41 6 - 8 6 5 - 4 3 69 Fasken Martineau, 333 Bay Street, Suite 2400, Toronto, ON M5H 2T6 Among Peter's supporters are the following distinguished lawyers: Geoff Adair John Campion Brian Gover Bob Harrison Doug Hunt Don Jack Jeff Leon David Lepofsky Jennifer McAleer Will McDowell Eugene Meehan Willy Menninga Mayo Moran Susan Opler Allan Rock Mark Sandler Paul Schabas Peter Wardle "Peter will be an excellent bencher - he will bring to the issues an open mind and will consider all points of view before making his decision." - Derry Millar Peter Downard @Downard4Bencher Untitled-3 1 2015-03-17 10:32 AM I Volume of Ontario Superior Court civil cases over time number of cases Source: Statistics Canada

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