Legal Studies 3040
Section 2: Damages, Defenses and Special Liabilities
Liability in Motor-Vehicle Accidents
As you might well imagine, one of the most common types of negligence cases that come before the courts is those that involve motor vehicles. Many serious injuries and a great deal of property loss results from motorists' negligence. Very few people deliberately cause harm to others with their cars; when people are hurt in motor-vehicle accidents, it is almost always due to someone's carelessness. That's why it's mandatory for Alberta vehicle owners to carry liability insurance. Because this is an area where the potential for serious harm is so great, every province and territory has legislation — that is, statutory law — governing the operation of motor vehicles. In Alberta the statute is the Traffic Safety Act . If a driver violates any section of this act and harm is done to another as a result, the person suffering the harm will probably be able to commence a successful negligence action in the courts. The driver will likely face a criminal charge as well.
Strict Liability
According to the principle of strict liability , a person can be held liable for harm even if he or she hasn't been at all negligent.
| Just a sec! I thought the whole point of negligence law was to compensate people harmed by others' negligent behaviour. How can a person be held liable if he or she's been careful? |
 | Actually, you've already seen an instance of this — vicarious liability of parents, vehicle owners, and employers. Strict liability involves situations that are so inherently dangerous that anyone who creates them will be held liable if people suffer harm as a result. |
To illustrate the general idea of strict liability, imagine you own a pet lion and one day it escapes. A court will likely find you liable for any harm the animal does even if you were in no way negligent. This reflects the belief that if you do something so inherently dangerous, you should be liable for any harm that results whether or not you were actually careless in your actions. The principle of strict liability may strike you as unfair. Your thinking may be that if you aren't negligent and don't deliberately try to harm someone, how can you be punished? But remember that the basis of tort law isn't so much as to punish the guilty as it is to make restitution to those harmed by the actions of others. If you own a dangerous animal that mauls someone, or if your company stores explosives that are accidentally set off, killing an innocent bystander, it's you who will be held strictly liable and who will have to make restitution.