Expect judges to use ‘life joys’ to determine serious injuries: Hughes Amys LLP

Insurance defence lawyers believe Ontario’s judiciary will increasingly use the concept of “life joys” to determine whether or not auto injuries meet the threshold of “serious” injuries, according to an article in Hughes Amys LLP newsletter Noteworthy.
“The concept of ‘life joys’ is one which we anticipate will resonate with the judiciary and is a term which we expect will be used frequently in subsequent decisions,” Richard Horak writes in the firm’s bulletin.
Horak’s article analyzes two recent cases in which the claimants’ injuries were found to have seriously affected their enjoyment of life. In doing so, the judges referred to whether or not the injured person’s pain affected pre-accident “life joys.”
In the first case, the claimant’s “life joys” included the intimacy of sleeping with her husband, and entertaining her extended family on a weekly basis without help.
In the second case, the claimant’s life joys included intimate relations with his wife and the ability to play the organ at his church to the full effect of his talent.
Ontario’s regulations require that the plaintiff’s impairments must substantially interfere with “most” of his or her activities to qualify as “serious,” Horak notes. Also, there must be a “full consideration of the import of those activities.”
But “we suspect it’s only a matter of time before the trial judges…apply the ‘life joys’ analysis to the most recent regulation, leading to a finding that the threshold has been met,” Horak wrote.