Seeking Leave to Appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada for Personal Injury Cases

Advocates contemplating seeking Leave to Appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada in personal injury cases face a unique decision calculus. The strategy at this Court is different from that of other appellate courts because the Supreme Court of Canada uses a particular test for granting Leave: “public importance.” One must first ask for Leave from the Supreme Court to even get to a hearing on the merits. When one's personal injury appeal is competing on the Supreme Court's Leave docket with other cases bringing issues such as unconstitutional search and seizure, equality rights, the separation of Quebec, and freedom of expression, the task of imbuing one's case with “public importance” becomes a challenge. This article aims to offer some strategy behind the Leave process by removing some of the mystery so that personal injury lawyers and their clients can make informed decisions about this potentially important step