Question

Apply the concept of Tort Law to potential and specific damages identified in the article How an immigration scheme steers newcomers into Canadian trucking jobs – and puts lives at risk.a

Answer 1

EXPLANATION:

In common law jurisdictions, a tort is a civil wrong that unfairly causes someone else to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Although crimes may be torts, the cause of legal action is not necessarily a crime, as the harm may be due to negligence The victim of the harm can recover his or her loss as damages in a lawsuit. In order to prevail, the plaintiff in the lawsuit, commonly referred to as the injured party, must prove that a breach of duty was the legally recognizable cause of the harm.

Legal injuries are not limited to physical injuries and may include emotional, economic, or reputational injuries, as well as violations of privacy, property, or constitutional rights. Torts include such varied topics as auto accidents, false imprisonment, defamation, product liability, copyright infringement, and environmental pollution (toxic torts). While many torts are the result of negligence, tort law also recognizes intentional torts, in which a person has intentionally acted in a way that harms another. In addition, when it comes to product liability, the courts have established a doctrine of “strict liability” for torts arising from injury caused using a company’s product and/or service.

Under “strict liability,” the injured party does not have to prove that the company was negligent in order to win a claim for damages. Tort law is different from criminal law in two ways:

(1) torts may result from negligent as well as intentional or criminal actions, and

(2) tort lawsuits have a lower burden of proof, such as “preponderance of evidence” rather than “beyond a reasonable doubt.” Sometimes a plaintiff may prevail in a tort case even if the person who allegedly caused harm was acquitted in an earlier criminal trial.

There are some damages which were mention in the article

Compensatory and Punitive Damages

When someone pursues a claim under a tort, the goal (or legal remedy) is usually the award of damages. Damages in tort are generally awarded to restore the plaintiff to the position he or she was in had the tort not occurred. In law, damages are an award, typically of money, to be paid to a person as compensation for loss or injury. Damages are classified as compensatory (or actual) damages and punitive damages.

Compensatory damages are further categorized into special damages, which are economic losses such as loss of earnings, property damage, and medical expenses, and general damages, which are noneconomic damages such as pain and suffering and emotional distress. Generally, punitive damages are not awarded in order to compensate the plaintiff but to reform or deter the defendant and similar persons from pursuing a course of action such as that which damaged the plaintiff.

Punitive damages are awarded only in special cases where a defendant acted in a blatantly negligent, malicious, or grossly reckless manner. In the case of trucking firms, A Globe and Mail investigation has discovered that young foreign nationals like Mr. Singh are routinely worked in trucking by some immigration consultants, in collaboration with particular trucking firms.

Both take cash payoffs from recruits in exchange for jobs – even though that practice is illegal according to tort law that is exploiting newcomers and putting lives at risk across the country. In audio recordings which is obtained by The Globe, consultants told one international student a trucking job costs $35,000 to $55,000 – an astonishing sum for aspiring immigrants, who often borrow lots of money to pay their fee.

The Globe investigation has revealed that immigration authorities let trucking companies hire new people through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, even when they know that carriers have a proven history of multiple-injury accidents, serious safety violations or exploitative labour practices. (The federal authorities’ mandate is to look primarily at whether a company tried to hire local drivers before resorting to foreign workers, not to delve into carriers’ safety records, which are held by the provinces. Gypsy Hunking has been watching big rigs barrel through her northern Manitoba town all her life.

Now, she calls them “killing machines.” when a new trucker on a temporary work permit drove his loaded flatbed through a red light at full speed and broadsided their car and The truck driver, Gurjant Singh, had arrived in Ontario from India as an international student, but wound up getting a trucking licence and moving west for work. He was 23 and had been driving for a year at the time of the crash. So, for that Mr. Singh walked away with a $3,000 fine for careless driving and a one-year licence suspension. After saw all this incident Ms. Hunking wanted to take legal action against his employer, for putting a junior driver on the road with that enormous freight. But she says no lawyer would take the case because Manitoba’s no-fault insurance system doesn’t permit civil lawsuits over vehicle collisions