Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 10:21:13 -0400

From: Jason Neyers

Subject: Fairchild in Canada

For those following the application of Fairchild in Canada and/or the general tendency to policy-ize causation might be interested in reading the BC CA's decision in B.M. v. British Columbia (Attorney General) 2004 BCCA 402 where the court in a 2-1 decision decided that Fairchild did not apply to a case where the police negligently failed to investigate a complaint of domestic violence and the estranged male partner subsequently severely injured his former common law spouse.

The dissent argued that "the law has evolved to the stage [that] where ... a breach of duty occurs and a loss is suffered by the person to whom the duty is owed in circumstances where direct proof of causation is impossible, considerations of fairness and justice may require relaxation of the conventional requirements for causation." The majority found that the case could be handled by the traditional approach of Snell and that in any event the requirements of Fairchild could not be made out.

Sincerely,

--
Jason Neyers
Assistant Professor of Law
Faculty of Law
University of Western Ontario
N6A 3K7
(519) 661-2111 x. 88435

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