Available Remedies: Within Small Claims Court Cases

Question: Can the Small Claims Court in Canada Order Specific Conduct?

Answer: The Small Claims Court in Canada is limited to awarding compensatory relief, such as money up to $35,000 or the return of property valued at $35,000 or less. It cannot order someone to take specific actions or refrain from them, as injunctive and declarative relief fall outside its jurisdiction. Need guidance on pursuing rightful compensation in Small Claims Court?

Answer: Contact Reznik Legal Services to navigate your legal options effectively.

What Power Does the Small Claims Court Hold?

The Small Claims Court Is Unable to Grant Requests For An Injunction or Requests For Declarations. The Small Claims Court Is Empowered Only to Grant Various Forms of Compensatory Relief.

Understanding the Powers of the Small Claims Court Involving the Restriction to Handling Compensatory Relief Matters

The Small Claims Court is limited powers division of the Superior Court of Justice rather than a separate and independent forum, within which judges are restricted to granting only certain forms of remedy; and accordingly, parties in Small Claims Court proceedings must seek only the remedies that fall within the jurisdiction of judges sitting in the Small Claims Court.

The Law

The Small Claims Court is a court of limited jurisdiction with restrictions upon the court, and thus restrictions upon the judges sitting within the Small Claims Court, to grant certain remedies.  Specifically, the Small Claims Court is limited to the granting the remedies prescribed by the Courts of Justice Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C-43, as well as the Small Claims Court Jurisdiction, O.Reg. 626/00, regulation for which each respectively state:

As such, the Small Claims Court is permitted to grant monetary awards to a maximum of $35,000.00 as well as permitted to order the return of property that is valued at a maximum of $35,000; and thus the Small Claims Court is without the authority to grant injunctive relief such as a directive that a person perform specific conduct or cease specific conduct as well as without the authority to grant declarative relief such as an opinion regarding a legal rights issue.

Whereas the Small Claims Court is limited the powers above, only certain remedies may be claimed.  The remedies that may be claimed include, among possible others:

• Claims seeking an award of actual damages, which may also be referred to as special damages, being a form of monetary compensation that relates to losses that are precisely calculable such as debt amounts or costs of repairs, among other things;
• Claims for general damages, which may also be referred to as non-pecuniary damages, being a form of monetary compensation that is incapable of a precise calculation such as awards for pain due to a physical injury or emotional suffering due to stress or disappointment;
• Claims for punitive damages, which may also be referred to as exemplary damages, being a form of financial punishment that is awarded to show disdain for malicious and egregious misconduct and to deter similar misconduct in the future or by others ;
• Claims for rescission which involves a figurative reset that puts the parties in dispute back into the same position, financially, as existed previously to the dealings between the disputing parties and where a reset involves only the payment of money or return of property or both; and
• Claims for disgorgement which involve ill-gotten gains such as illegally obtained benefits or profits being stripped from an illegally acting party and instead being paid to the victim of the illegally acting party.

Conclusion

The Small Claims Court is limited in the power to grant remedies. The Small Claims Court is empowered to grant remedies involving the payment of money or the return of property only.  The Small Claims Court is limited to a certain monetary jurisdiction, meaning the sum of money or value of property involved. Currently, the limit is a maximum of $35,000 per party.