Ordinarily, if a person or corporation suffers pure economic
harm, the remedy is a claim for breach of contract. This places the
wronged party in the same financial position as if the contract had
been performed. But if there is no contract between the parties and
a plaintiff suffers only economic harm, without injury to their
person or property, what is the remedy?
For years, Canadian courts have sought to limit when a party may
rely on tort law to claim pure economic loss. Adopting a
"rights-based" approach to tort, the courts have embraced
the principle that tort law compensates rights like damage to
personal security or property, not harm to pure economic
interests.
A recent decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal, Wright v.
Horizons ETFS Management (Canada) Inc. 2020 ONCA 337, however,
may have expanded the scope of recovery for economic loss under
negligence law. Wright introduces a potentially novel
claim for financial harm arising from the
