BC Court of Appeal Confirms Limited Small Claims Appeal Rights
Reasons for judgement were released today by the BC Court of Appeal confirming the limited appeal rights from small claims lawsuits.
In the recent case (Jacques v. Muir) the Plaintiff brought a medical negligence claim in small claims court that was dismissed based on a previous release that was signed. The Plaintiff appealed to the BC Supreme Court where the claim dismissal was upheld.
The Plaintiff then further appealed to the BC Court of Appeal who confirmed that the Supreme Court order was final and no further right of appeal exists in the circumstances. In upholding the claim dismissal the Court provided the following reasons:
[15] Section 13 of the Small Claims Act sets out the powers of the Supreme Court on an appeal in a small claims action. Section 13(2) states “there is no appeal from an order made by the Supreme Court under this section.”
[16] The chambers judge properly held that s. 13(2) precludes an appeal to this Court of the order dismissing Ms. Jacques’s application. As this Court said in Pour, “no order of the Supreme Court made in appeal proceedings in a small claims action can be appealed to this Court” (at para. 7).
[17] Moreover, s. 5 of the Small Claims Act sets out the avenues for appeal from an order made by a Provincial Court judge:
Right of appeal
5 (1) Any party to a proceeding under this Act may appeal to the Supreme Court an order to allow or dismiss a claim if that order was made by a Provincial Court judge after a trial.
(2) No appeal lies from any order of the Provincial Court made in a proceeding under this Act other than an order referred to in subsection (1).
[18] As the order of Judge Low was not made “after a trial”, arguably pursuant to s. 5(2) of the Small Claims Act the order was not appealable at all, but I need not decide this issue in the circumstances.
[19] For these reasons I would dismiss the application to vary.