This Report is concerned with the maintenance of public confidence in the real property system, and whether and how title insurance might affect that public confidence. The Commissions identified two separate aspects of maintaining that confidence:
(1) consumer protection; and
(2) protection of public infrastructure.
The Commissions make a number of recommendations that they believe will both protect the interests of individual purchasers and protect the existing public system of land registration, while guaranteeing as much freedom of choice as is compatible with those goals.
The Manitoba and Saskatchewan Law Reform Commissions consider title insurance and its effect on both individuals and the public interest in residential real property transactions. Some conveyance practices have been found to be inefficient and unsecure, and suggestions are made to improve security of title without causing delay or difficulty in transfer
Structured settlements provide compensation to a plaintiff in periodic payments instead of a lump sum. Though Saskatchewan courts approve settlements negotiated between parties, they lack jurisdiction to deliver structured judgments. The proposed Structured Judgments Act would allow courts to make structured awards while providing them with some guidance on the complexities involved.
Under The Automobile Accident Insurance Act, lack of vehicle registration results in forfeiture of insurance coverage, which can bar tort recovery of loss in the case of an accident. The Commission believes that the Act should be amended so that loss of insurance benefits under the Act does not impair a claim against a negligent owner of another vehicle.
The Law Reform Commission recommends that Saskatchewan abolish interspousal tort immunity and extend this abolition to The Insurance Act, where it serves only to help insurance companies avoid payments. This final report goes beyond the previous proposal on the topic in recommending repeal of an additional subsection of The Insurance Act.
Interspousal tort immunity is based on the archaic fiction of the unity of husband and wife, and is not supported by any of the arguments offered in its defence. If the abolition of interspousal tort immunity is to have any significant practical consequences, it must be accompanied by repeal of bars to damage recovery in intrafamily torts.
