Canadian Liability Lawsuit Statistics: Awards, Limits, and What Judgments Take

Every number on this page comes from a reported court decision, a statute, or a regulator, and each one is linked in the sources below. Cite freely with attribution — this page exists so that writers, researchers, and worried homeowners don't have to reassemble these figures from scratch.

The largest reported liability awards against individuals#

Two things stand out. First, the defendants in the eight-figure cases were ordinary people — drivers, not corporations. Second, the two Greig awards came from the same single crash: one bad moment produced roughly $23.7 million in combined liability. The most common liability limit in Canada is $1 million, and everything a judgment awards above that limit is collected from the defendant personally.

The cap that isn't a cap#

Canada does cap one category of damages. The Supreme Court's 1978 Andrews trilogy limited non-pecuniary damages — pain and suffering — to $100,000, indexed to inflation, which is roughly $450,000 today.

The eight-figure awards above are possible because everything else is uncapped:

Minimum liability coverage by province#

The gap speaks for itself: the legal floor in most of Canada is $200,000, courts have awarded 90 times that figure, and even the $1M–$2M limits most drivers actually carry leave a multi-million dollar exposure in a catastrophic case.

What a judgment can actually take#

Home equity protected from seizure, by province:

Everything above those figures is exposed. On a home with $400,000 of equity, an Ontario judgment creditor can pursue roughly 97% of it — the fuller breakdown is in what assets can be seized in a Canadian lawsuit.

Wages: Ontario allows garnishment of up to 20% of gross wages; BC roughly 30% above a protected floor; Alberta uses a graduated formula that can take materially more from higher earners.

Time: a judgment can be enforced for 10 years in BC and Alberta (renewable) and effectively up to 20 years in Ontario. A defendant who has little today can be garnished for two decades of tomorrows.

What closing the gap costs#

Personal umbrella or excess liability coverage in Canada typically runs $200–$300 per year for the first $1 million above your base policies, and roughly $50–$75 per year for each additional million — so $5 million of additional protection usually lands between $400 and $600 a year. These are estimates based on typical Canadian broker pricing, not quotes; the full breakdown is in the cost guide.

Citing this page#

All figures trace to the linked primary sources below and were last verified on the review date shown above. Quote any statistic with attribution to LiabilityGap.ca; for the underlying court decisions and statutes, cite the primary source directly.