4 Obiter Dicta
Access to Justice Reform and the
Data Deficit: Some Lessons Learned
OPINION
Canadian Forum on Civil Justice
- ian
mason
In 2015, the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice
(CFCJ) at Osgoode Hall Law School published Civil
Non-Family Cases Filed in the Supreme Court of BC
- Research Results and Lessons Learned. This study
is one piece of a larger, five year, “Cost of Justice”
research initiative being undertaken by the CFCJ with
the goal of defining the economic and social costs of
justice on two fronts: the cost of delivering access to
justice, and the cost of not delivering access to justice.
The study was conducted by Focus Consultants of
Victoria, British Columbia (BC) in 2014 and 2015 in
the Supreme Court of BC. It was premised on the fact
that, while we know that approximately 2% of cases
filed in section 96 courts resolve by trial, we know
almost nothing about what happens to the other
98%. The assumption was once commonly made that
because these cases are not tried, they have settled.
However, research into unmet legal need and unrepresented litigants suggests that many of these cases
do not ultimately resolve.
Accordingly, the study aimed to learn more about
the trajectory, characteristics and outcomes of these
cases, and about the experience of the claimants in
terms of their satisfaction, ancillary costs incurred
and other impacts. Because the study was particularl