Medical negligence settlements
in Quebec.
Quebec is Canada's only civil-law jurisdiction and operates a SAAQ no-fault auto scheme that bars tort recovery for motor injury since 1978. For medical negligence claims specifically, the band is built from the Andrews v Grand & Toy non-pecuniary cap framework and then adjusted for Quebec's no-fault statutory scheme and any applicable statutory cap.
Quebec operates within a no-fault statutory scheme that channels medical negligence claims away from common-law tort recovery and into a first-party benefits framework. The scheme typically requires the claimant to exhaust statutory benefits (medical, wage loss, rehabilitation) before a residual tort claim becomes available, and even then only above an impairment or expense threshold. This materially compresses the lower end of the medical negligence settlement band relative to traditional tort jurisdictions.
For medical negligence claims specifically, statutory caps frequently apply to non-economic damages or to total recovery — Quebec's caps (andrews cap (non-pecuniary)) materially compress the upper end of the band. Catastrophic medical negligence cases that would otherwise produce seven- or eight-figure awards are routinely capped at the statutory ceiling.