Statement of Claim

A statement of claim is the document that formally begins a civil lawsuit in most Canadian common-law provinces. It sets out, in the plaintiff's own words, what they say the defendant did and what they're asking for in return — commonly a specific dollar amount in damages. Being served with one is what starts the legal clock: it isn't a warning that a lawsuit might happen, it's the lawsuit itself, already filed with the court.

Quebec is the exception. Its civil law system, distinct from the common law used in every other province, commences a lawsuit through an originating application — a demande introductive d'instance — under Quebec's own Code of Civil Procedure, not a statement of claim.

Why it matters to you#

The document alone determines whether your insurer has to defend you, and that's a lower bar than most people expect. Canadian courts have held that a liability insurer's duty to defend is triggered by what's alleged in the statement of claim, not by what's eventually proven — so an exaggerated, weak, or ultimately unsuccessful claim can still obligate your insurer to appoint and pay a lawyer for you. Being sued and being found liable are genuinely two different questions, and the first doesn't require the second to be true.

In practice#

• The claim itself states your deadline to respond, and that deadline differs by province and by how you were served — read your own document rather than relying on a general number.
• Report it to your insurer or broker the same day you're served, before calling a lawyer yourself or replying to anyone involved in the case.
• Other documents can arrive alongside or instead of a full statement of claim — a notice of action, for instance, is a placeholder that starts the same clock while the detailed claim follows — so don't assume the name on the paperwork tells you everything by itself.
• The dollar figure on page one is worth comparing to your own policy's liability limit — if the claim is near or above it, that's the moment the rest of this cluster of terms starts to matter.

See I've Been Served With a Statement of Claim. What Happens Next? for the full first-week playbook, and Noted in Default for what happens if the deadline is missed.

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