When is it appropriate to strike a jury notice in a personal injury civil claim? Both the B.C. Supreme Court and Court of Appeal recently considered this issue, and in both cases the courts permitted the claims to proceed to trial by jury.
The plaintiff claimed damages for various injuries suffered as a result of a single motor vehicle accident. Liability for the accident was admitted. The defendant argued contributory negligence, alleging that the plaintiff failed to wear her seatbelt or properly adjust her headrest. The plaintiff applied to strike a jury notice filed by the defendant, arguing that the plaintiff had been injured in other motor vehicle accidents, including several Alberta claims that had settled. The plaintiff argued that her other motor vehicle accidents made causation and divisibility of her chronic injuries too complex for a jury to assess. The plaintiff also argued that her income loss claim was complex and required expert evidence. The chambers judge granted the application to strike.
The Court of Appeal allowed the defendant’s appeal. While divisibility of injuries and allocation may render a case unsuitable for a jury in some cases, in this case there was no evidence that the plaintiff suffered a distinct divisible injury in the subject accident, and furthermore no reasonable prospect of a finding of contributory negligence. The fact that some accidents occurred in Alberta was irrelevant. The plaintiff’s claim for income loss was relatively straight-forward and the jury’s task was to answer a limited number of questions. There were not multiple complicating issues that would render the claim unsuitable for a jury.
Laine v. Riahi, 2025 BCSC 1892
The plaintiff claimed damages for alleged dental malpractice by the defendants. Liability was denied. Trial was scheduled for 25 days and 16 expert reports were anticipated. The defendants applied to strike the plaintiff’s jury notice on the basis that the plaintiff had a complex medical history, and determining the issues would be too complex for a jury. The court accepted that the issues of liability, causation, and damages were of an intricate and complex nature, but dismissed the strike application because the issues could be conveniently decided by a jury. The court noted that it should be assumed that a jury will be intelligent, and other decisions permitting claims to proceed to trial by jury had similar trial lengths and expert reports.
Takeaway
Note that the B.C. provincial government has considered eliminating jury trials in civil cases. So long as civil jury trials in personal injury claims are permitted in B.C., the court is reluctant to strike a jury on the sole basis that the issues are complex or require expert evidence. Juries are intelligent, and it is the task of counsel to present the case in a way that a jury can understand.