Western Journal of Legal Studies Volume 7 Article 1 Issue 2 Applying Legal Principles 2017 Lex Punit Mendacium: punitive damages and Bhasin v Hrynew 2017 CanLIIDocs 336 Eric Andrews University of Western Ontario, Faculty of Law,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/uwojls Part of the Common Law Commons, Contracts Commons, Courts Commons, Jurisprudence Commons, and the Litigation Commons Recommended Citation Eric Andrews , "Lex Punit Mendacium: punitive damages and Bhasin v Hrynew", (2017) 7:2 online: UWO J Leg Stud 1 <http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/uwojls/vol7/iss2/1>. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Western Journal of Legal Studies by an authorized editor of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Lex Punit Mendacium: punitive damages and Bhasin v Hrynew Abstract Punitive damages are a controversial remedy in Canadian and non-Canadian law. Some scholars have gone so far as to argue that punitive damages are entirely inconsistent with the goals and principles of private law and ought to be abolished. Notwithstanding these criticisms, the Supreme Court of Canada has treated punitive damages as a relatively uncontroversial private law remedy. However, the circumstances under which a court will consider awarding punitive damages have evolved with recent Supreme Court decisions. One example is the introduction of the independent actionable wrong requirement in Vorvis v Insurance Corporation of British Columbia. The independent actionable wrong requirement has been criticized as an incoherent and ineffective check on the availability of punitive damages.