Physical And Mental Injury Equal Under The Law: SCC Does Away With A "Recognizable Psychiatric Illness"

Mental injury is typically an issue for personal injury, but has arisen from time to time in the commercial context when consumers claim they have experienced inordinate mental suffering from the failure of a business's products or services. Historically, the courts have required plaintiffs to establish a "recognizable psychiatric illness" to recover in a negligence action for mental injury, raising the burden on plaintiffs to prove their case. In Saadati v. Moorhead, however, the Supreme Court of Canada removed this burden, holding that the "recognizable psychiatric illness" threshold for mental injury is not a requirement in Canadian law.¹

In Saadati, the plaintiff sued a number of defendants for injuries suffered in five different motor vehicle accidents from January 2003 and March 2009. At trial, the British Columbia Supreme Court found that the plaintiff had not suffered any physical injuries, but concluded that the plaintiff had suffered mental harm, on the