Does every breach of a professional standard lead to liability?

British Columbia, Canada


The following excerpt is from C. W. Bullock & Associates Ltd. v. Burnett, 1997 CanLII 2165 (BC SC):

I am satisfied that every breach of a professional standard does not lead to liability. In Canada v. Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, 1983 CanLII 21 (SCC), [1983] 1 S.C.R. 205 (S.C.C.), the court considered breaches of statutory provisions and the civil consequences of those breaches. The court reached these conclusions at 227-228: 1.Civil consequences of breach of statute should be subsumed in the law of negligence. 2.The notion of a nominate tort of statutory breach giving a right to recovery merely on proof of breach and damages should be rejected, as should the view that unexcused breach constitutes negligence per se giving rise to absolute liability. 3.Proof of statutory breach, causative of damages, may be evidence of negligence. 4.The statutory formulation of the duty may afford a specific, and useful, standard of reasonable conduct.

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