Non-Pecuniary Damages Calculator
The Supreme Court of Canada has mandated that the cap on the maximum award for pain & suffering, $100,000 in 1978 dollars, [1] can be increased by the rate of inflation as measured by Statistics Canada. [2]
This calculator allows you to increase your expected amount of damages for pain and suffering by the rate of inflation (percentage change in the CPI) since your injury occurred, your claim was filed, or date of judgment, based on your province of residence.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is an indicator of changes in consumer prices experienced by Canadians. It is obtained by comparing through time, the cost of a fixed basket of commodities [3] purchased by consumers. Since the basket contains commodities of unchanging or equivalent quantity and quality, the index reflects only pure price movements, not necessarily the change in an individual buyer's cost of living. [4]
The rate of inflation is the percentage change in the CPI index [5] from one time period to the next time period. In these calculations, we use a "rolling average" such that the "CPI Inflation Factor" that is reported represents the percentage change between the average of the indices in the 12 months prior to the current month over the average of the indices in the 12 months prior to the month/year of the originating date, date of incident, or date of judgment. This eliminates some of the seasonality and smoothes the volatility that can occur if we simply compared the CPI index of the current month/year over the CPI index for the month/year of the originating date, date of incident, or date of judgment.
The "originating date or date of judgment" refers to the month/year from which the CPI index will be compared to the CPI index for the most current month of CPI data released by Statistics Canada.
[1] The Supreme Court of Canada in Lindal v. Lindal (1981) 2 S.C.R. 629 held that inflation was a factor which could be considered an exceptional circumstance to warrant an increase in the upper limit for non-pecuniary damages. It did not specify whether inflation was to be based on the Canadian CPI or a regional CPI measure.
[2] Inflation is the rate of increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is a measure of the rate of price change for goods and services bought by Canadian consumers. It is the most widely used indicator of price changes in Canada. (Source: Statistics Canada, Your Guide to the Consumer Price Index, catalogue #62-557-XPB [Minister of Industry: 1996], p. 1).
[3] The CPI Basket refers to the goods and services included in the calculation of the CPI. These items are considered to be consumer items, and must be associated with a retail price. Products are included in the CPI basket because they make up a notable proportion of the expenditures of Canadian families and individuals (source: Statistics Canada, Your Guide to the Consumer Price Index (Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 1996) Catalogue No. 62-557 pg. 4)
[4] Statistics Canada, Your Guide to the Consumer Price Index (Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 1996) Catalogue No. 62-557 pg. 1
[5] Monthly CPI indices are based on 2005 Basket Content, Index, 2002 = 100, All Items index, from Statistics Canada's CANSIM Table 326-0020
