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damages for pain and suffering of $20,000 and $15,000 respectively. "I know that there will be people all over Alberta applauding — insurance brokers, people [who] got the benefit of ower rates because of the reforms we made," Alberta Finance Minister Iris Evans crowed following the Supreme Court's decision. "I think we're relieved that it's over and that constitutionally, it has ruled in our favour and it is a win, certainly on the side of insurance reform, because of that." Not surprisingly, the lawyer who represented the women had a much different take. "This essentially means that innocent victims [in Alberta] will continue to be limited in their ability to have a court determine how much compensation they should have received, which will be a benefit to insurers," says Fred Kozak of Reynolds Mirth Richards & Farmer LLP. "Whether the benefit is passed on to Alberta drivers is another issue." No-fault opponents in other parts of the country found some solace in the SCC's refusal to hear the case. Notably, they point to the argument made by the Court of Appeal that the cap law did not discriminate against injured people because the Alberta government increased accident medical benefits available under no-fault in the months after the law was brought in. This 'trade-off ' is expected to become an important issue in Hartling v. Nova Scotia (Attorney General), the latest constitutional challenge being mounted by anti-no-fault coalition forces in the Maritimes, where a $2,500 cap on soft-tissue injuries was enacted several years ago. On Dec. 15, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal released its decision in Hartling, upholding the $2,500 cap on all grounds, "which was a surprise to myself and many others in the legal and insurance communities," wrote David Brannen, a personal injury lawyer from Halifax, on his blog. Brannen also believes the SCC's refusal to hear the Alberta cap case means the constitutional challenge to Nova Scotia's cap "has hit the end of the road." Apart from constitutional challenges, the results of a number of recent studies are also providing no-fault opponents with ammunition to counter the decades-old argument — advanced mostly by insurance companies and the two provinces that have adopted comprehensive no-fault systems — that no-fault is more cost-effective and efficient than tort schemes. According to Christopher Bruce, an economics professor at the University of Calgary and president of Baxter_CL_Feb_10.indd 1 www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com FEBRU AR Y 2010 33 1/21/10 10:10:35 AM