JUSTICE???

Well first off I have to share a political cartoon that was in the waterloo Region Record newspaper last Tuesday, March 14/17. It shows a car up on blocks with a blindfolded lady representing Justice sitting in the car. The caption is "Wheels of Justice' and all the tires are off with the bare front wheels resting on a block of wood labelled Court Case and the back wheels on a block of wood labelled Back Logs. In my opinion Backlogs are but a symptom of a horribly corrupted judicial system in this country.

The Record also has an article titled "Garage gets chance to fight liability for joyrider's injuries". This is a very sad case that occurred in the Paisley-Walkerton area of Ontario. A fifteen year old went on a joyride with his sixteen year friend in a stolen car. Neither had driver's licences. The fifteen year old suffered catastrophic brain injuries in the ensuing car crash. He is suing his friend, his friend's mother and the garage from which the car was stolen.

A local court found the garage liable as did the Ontario Court of Appeal. The case has now gone to the Supreme Court of Canada. This is a tough one. Apparently the lower court feels that a duty of care operates independently of the illegal or immoral conduct of an injured party. Fair enough especially with minors but my question is to what extent that duty of care operates. Sure you can't shoot a trespassing teenager in the back as he's leaving your property. In fact as long as you or your family are not threatened you can not legally take physical action against the teen at all. In this case however it's dealing with allegedly leaving car keys in a car on your own private property. Both trespassing and then theft took place prior to the teen being injured by his friend's driving. This is a tough one to figure out.