Civil law

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Can Alexis be held responsible for the injuries William suffered?

Yes, under what is known as “civil liability”.

You often hear, on television and elsewhere, the phrase “civil prosecution”. Civil prosecution means suing someone in a civil court. This happens when one person, by fault or negligence, causes injury to another. A civil suit is not intended to allow the injured party to punish the other person, but simply to receive compensation for the damages caused.

For a judge to decide that a person must compensate another, it is necessary that the “plaintiff” (the victim) proves that the damage was directly caused by the fault of the “defendant” (the person being sued). For example, to determine whether Alex should pay compensation for William’s injuries, we must ask whether Alex’s act (putting speed in William’s glass) was the direct cause of William’s injuries.

Certainly, Alex didn’t push William into the pool. He didn’t even ask or encourage him to do it. But at the same time, it must be determined whether, without Alex’s act, William would be in the same condition today…Without ingesting the drug, would William have still jumped head-first into the shallow end? This is what a judge must decide.

How do the courts determine the amount of compensation for injuries suffered?

In civil liability, the goal is to put the victim back into the condition he was in before the harmful act occurred. Since it is often impossible to completely heal an injury or give back a unique or sentimental object that has been damaged or destroyed, the courts will usually compensate the injury with money.

Usually, the person who is suing will try to prove that the injury is worth more money, while the person who is being sued will try to prove that value is much less. However, the defendant may decide not to argue over the amount of damages. Ultimately, it’s up to the judge to figure out the amount of compensation. Both parties to the suit can help her make this decision by providing expert opinions (for example, the opinion of an expert who calculates that William’s paralysis will cost $ 250,000 in health care expenses).
The judge will also consider the award that was given in cases that are similar to the one before him.

What are the three types of damages that can be compensated in civil liability?

Material damages: Damage caused to property or to economic interests.

This type of damage is compensated by giving an amount of money equal to the value of the property before it was damaged or, if the object can be fixed, the amount necessary to pay for the repairs.

Corporal damages: This kind of compensation reflects the general impact of physical injuries on a person’s life.

To evaluate it, different factors are taken into consideration, including expenses that have been paid since the accident (such as wheelchair or crutch rentals), required treatments (such as physiotherapy), medications not covered by insurance, transportation to appointments with a doctor or specialist, a domestic helper, a nurse, or an expert medical opinion for the purposes of the trial.

The impact of bodily injuries on a person’s income must also be examined. Was the victim unable to work for a certain period? Did she suffer a loss of income? Will the injuries affect the victim’s capacity to work in the future? Did the victim have to change jobs?

Moral damages: This compensation is for psychological injuries.

These can include nervous shock, trauma, pain and suffering, and inconveniences caused by the harmful act. Some examples are if the victim suffered pain, had to quit a sport he loved, learned that he would never walk again or that he could no longer have children, suffered depression, or underwent a personality change. These are the most difficult damages to convert into monetary compensation, because no one can really determine the value of a loss of self-esteem, for example, caused by a facial injury.

Here is an example that might help:

After downing a few beers at a party, Martin decides to mark his last day as a high school student by setting fire to all his school books. Seems like a great idea until the fire starts to spread – Martin watches helplessly as the flames entirely destroy the neighbours’ shed. This is property damage.

Thanh Mai, one of the party guests, receives second-degree burns on her left arm and part of her neck. Her burns are physical injuries. In addition, she thinks the scars are so terrible that she will no longer leave home without covering herself from head to toe. The healing process is very painful and she’s forced to stop swimming, her favourite activity. Her doctor believes she is on the verge of clinical depression. This is an example of moral damages.

Alex is only 16. Can he still be made to pay William damages?

Yes. Just because a person is under 18, it doesn't mean he's off the hook for the harm he has caused!

You don’t have to act perfectly at all times to avoid civil liability. Everyone makes small mistakes. The goal of civil liability is to compensate someone when your behaviour, taking various factors such as age, profession, and experience into account, departs significantly from what might be expected from you, and causes injury to another person.

If the person sued for civil liability is a 16-year-old camp counselor, for example, the court will consider her behaviour in light of what would be expected from a responsible and prudent 16-year-old camp counselor placed in the same circumstances.

Can Alex’s parents be held responsible for their son’s actions, even if they weren’t the ones who put the drug in the drink?

It depends. For parents to be held responsible for the harmful acts of their children, they must themselves have committed a fault in the care, supervision, or education of those children. If, for example, Alex’s parents always tolerated his drug habit, this could be considered a failure on their part in their duty to raise their son. They might have to compensate the injuries to William, Thanh Mai, and the neighbours!

In order to avoid being held responsible for their children’s harmful acts, parents must demonstrate that they did not commit any fault in caring for or supervising their children. For example, Alex’s parents could argue that they weren’t even at home and that Alex is old enough to take care of himself. They must also show that they did not commit any fault in bringing up or educating their children. For example, Alex’s parents could prove that they had always raised him well and taught him respect, prudence, safety, etc.

Is civil liability the same as criminal liability?

No. Civil liability and criminal liability are different legal systems with completely different objectives.

In the criminal justice system, society punishes and attempts to hold a person accountable for committing an offence (a crime). Criminal offences are set out in criminal laws and include murder, theft, rape, selling drugs, fraud, etc. When someone commits one of these forbidden acts, the state (through the police) investigates. The file is then sent to a Crown attorney, who represents society; she decides whether to lay charges. If the accused person is convicted, he will have a criminal record (judicial record in the case of minors). This is true whether the sentence is a prison term or just a fine.

Civil liability, in contrast, does not deal with a person against society, but with a person against another person: one who committed a harmful act and another who suffered damages. The goal is not to punish but to compensate. Also, in civil liability, a person sues another person because that person did something reckless or contrary to common sense, but not something criminal.

However, there are situations where a person can be sued in both criminal and civil liability. Why? Because it is possible to commit a criminal act that at the same time causes injury to someone else. This happened in Alex’s case, for example. When he put the drug in William’s glass, he committed a criminal act that is punishable by law. But a criminal trial will not help compensate William for the health care expenses he and his parents will have to pay! This is why William can also sue Alex and his parents in civil liability.

These two trials will not be 100% identical, however, because the type of proof required in a civil and criminal trial are very different. In a criminal trial, it must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt (meaning “there is no reasonable doubt in my mind that you are guilty”) that a person is responsible for a crime. In a civil trial, the standard of proof is less demanding. It must only be proven likely that a person is responsible, on the balance of probabilities (meaning “it’s more probable than improbable that you are responsible”).

Criminal proof is much more difficult to establish. After all, it is not simply a matter of monetary payment, as in civil liability. Before punishing someone, we must think twice about all of the consequences this might have on their life: loss of liberty, shame, and future difficulty in finding employment, obtaining insurance, traveling, etc.