Documentation:Torts/Remedies
Remedies
Civil remedies are the legal orders that a court may make upon the defendant's liability being established.
Categories of remedies for torts
Damages are monetary redress. They are the most common remedy sought in tort cases. There are several different heads of damages which courts may award depending on the circumstances.
Injunctions are an order to the defendant to stop doing something or, more rarely, to do something. They are an equitable remedy that may be granted by a court when damages would be an inadequate remedy.
Apologies from defendants have increasingly come to be seen as important to injured plaintiffs. In order to encourage defendants to apologise without fear that their apology will be used as evidence of their liability, some jurisdictions have enacted statutes that bar a mere apology or admission of fault from being used as evidence in court to establish fault.
Mitigation is a doctrine that can operate to limit the scope of damages recoverable by a plaintiff when the plaintiff fails to take reasonable steps to avoid the exacerbation of losses flowing from a defendant's tort.
Legal costs, such as lawyers' fees and disbursements, are usually awarded to the successful party in tort litigation in Canada, rather than each side being left to pay their own fees. Costs awards generally do not cover the successful party's full actual legal expenses, however.
Insurance plays an important role in tort law. Nowadays, many judgments in tort law cases may be fully or partially paid by the defendant's insurance provider, rather than the defendant personally. In some cases, certain individuals (such as owners and operators of motor vehicles) may be mandated by law to bear some form of liability insurance. Scholars have long debated whether a system of comprehensive insurance undermines the principles of tort law, or whether it facilitates the smooth running of the tort system.