Available Remedies: Within Small Claims Court Cases

Question: What remedies can I ask for in Ontario Small Claims Court, and what can’t it order?

Answer: In Ontario, Small Claims Court can generally award money damages or order the return of personal property, up to $35,000 per party under Courts of Justice Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C-43 and Small Claims Court Jurisdiction, O. Reg. 626/00, but it can’t grant injunctions (orders to do or stop doing something) or declarations about legal rights.   Alfred Legal Services provides Affordable Legal Help for Ontario residents to choose Small Claims Court remedies that fit the court’s jurisdiction and avoid asking for relief the court has no power to grant.

Jurisdictional Powers Restrictions

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 limited jurisdiction of the Small Claims Court imposes restrictions upon the remedies that are available. Specifically, 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, limit the powers of a judge in the Small Claims Court whereas the statute and the regulation respective state:

As shown, the Small Claims Court is empowered only to grant a monetary award up to $35,000.00 as well as to order the return of property valued up to $35,000; and accordingly, the Small Claims Court is unable to provide remedies known as injunctive relief, meaning a directive that someone do something or that someone stop doing something, or declarative relief, meaning an opinion on a legal rights question.  For cases proceeding within the Small Claims Court, the issues must strictly be kept to compensatory relief issues involving the payment of money or the return of property.

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.