INTRODUCTION
As a subset of the general negligence claim, the professional liability claim involves familiar elements which must be proven in order for a plaintiff to be successful. The plaintiff must establish the existence of a duty of care, that the duty of care was breached and that injury or damage was caused by the breach of the duty of care. While liability may be easily established in many negligence claims, professional liability claims invariably require expert evidence as to the standard of care expected of the professional in any given situation. Furthermore, expert opinion evidence as to the existence of a breach of the standard of care is necessary. As a result of the reliance a plaintiff must place on expert evidence, professional liability litigation can be costly and risky. Almost inevitably the professional liability claim boils down to a Abattle of the experts@ and where both the plaintiff and the defendant have well qualified, credible experts on their side, it is difficult for counsel to predict which experts a trial judge will prefer and accept. In order to avoid the risky and expensive trial arena, plaintiff=s counsel needs to be in a position to answer each of the required elements of the claim early in the process to encourage resolution of the claim short of trial. This
presentation is designed to provide some practical strategies for mounting a successful professional negligence case and to provide an overview of some of the recent cases in Alberta dealing with issues of professional negligence.
UNDERSTANDING THE ENEMY
Understanding the enemy means understanding the standard of care that is at play in any given case
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