Nova Scotia Introduces Apology Law

Nova Scotia's new Apology Act, that will come into force on October 1st, 2009, would allow individuals and organizations to apologize for an accident or negative occurrence, without it being used as evidence of liability in a civil legal proceeding under provincial law.

The legislation is especially significant for health care and hospital workers who will now be able to express remorse to families without putting themselves in legal jeopardy.

There are six other provinces that have apology legislation: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Earlier Library Boy posts about apology laws:

• Apology Acts - Saying 'Sorry' Without Incurring Liability (November 19, 2006): "The province of Saskatchewan will amend its Evidence Act to allow individuals and corporations to offer a sincere apology as part of their dispute resolution process without fear of legal liability... the provincial Justice Minister is quoted as saying: 'Within legal parameters, I think individuals are very concerned about saying anything that might cause them some legal liabilities and we want to clarify that for people(...) We believe that this will allow matters of dispute between citizens to be resolved, in many cases without a lawsuit. Because sometimes it's not the financial compensation, it's the desire for restoration, for an apology, for an acknowledgment that somebody was hurt'."
• Analysis and Critique of Apology Laws (January 14, 2007): "Marlynn Wei of the Yale Law School has just published an article in the Journal of Health Law, 2007 entitled 'Doctors, Apologies, and the Law: An Analysis and Critique of Apology Laws' (available for download via the Social Science Research Network) ..."
• Pros and Cons of Apology Legislation (March 26, 2008): "The most recent edition of The Lawyers Weekly features the article 'Saying sorry: Apology legislation makes it a lot easier' by Ellen Desmond, past chair of the national section for Alternative Dispute Resolution, Canadian Bar Association, and sessional lecturer in dispute resolution at the University of New Brunswick’s faculty of law."
• Ontario Introduces Apology Law (October 7, 2008): "The Ontario government today announced that it is introducing apology legislation that would allow individuals and organizations, such as hospitals, to apologize for an accident or wrongdoing, without it being used as evidence of liability in a civil legal proceeding under provincial law."