If you have been injured in an accident, and you wish to bring a claim against a municipality, then under Section 286 of the Local Government Act, you are required to notify them in writing within two months of the accident of the time, place, and manner in which the damage occurred. Pursuant to Section 285 of the Local Government Act, you must also commence legal proceedings within 6 months of the accident, as opposed to the normal two year period for most other civil matters, including motor vehicle accidents. Examples of where this shortened limitation period can apply include a slip and fall incident, a claim for negligent construction of an intersection, or where the at-fault motorist was driving a municipally owned vehicle. If the proper notice is not given, then the Court has discretion to allow the claim to proceed, as long as there is a reasonable excuse for the failure, and there is no prejudice to the Defendant due to the failure.
In Thauili v Delta, the British Columbia Court of Appeal discussed the meaning of “reasonable excuse”.
[10] In Teller, a five-judge division of this Court considered the construction to be placed on the words “reasonable excuse”, taken in the context of s. 755 of the Municipal Act, R.S.B.C. 1979, c. 290. Section 755 contained the same notice requirement found in s. 286(1) of the Local Government Act as well as the same saving provision now found in s. 286(3). Although not identically worded, there is no difference in substance between s. 755 of the Municipal Act and s. 286 of the Local Government Act.
[11] Teller did not propound a test to determine what constitutes “reasonable excuse”. Rather, Teller instructs that “all matters put forward as constituting either singly or together a reasonable excuse must be considered.” (at 388) The question is whether it is reasonable that the plaintiff be excused, having regard to all the circumstances.
[12] Teller expressly overruled those trial decisions which had excluded ignorance of the law as a factor to be considered in deciding whether there was reasonable excuse for the failure to give notice. …
[37] There can be no doubt that after its pronouncement, Teller became – and has remained – the governing authority on the construction of “reasonable excuse” found in the saving provision in s. 755 of the Municipal Act. …
[42] As to the purpose of the section, Southin J.A. said, at 383:
What then is the purpose of the section? Clearly one of the purposes of the section is to enable a municipality to investigate a claim fully. But that purpose is addressed by the second branch of the concluding sentence. The only other purpose I can think of was to protect municipalities against stale claims in order to enable them to estimate their future liabilities and make budgetary provision for them. But I know of no authority for that surmise.It really is difficult to make much sense out of the words “reasonable excuse” in the context….
[43] After considering the provenance of the section, the state of the law as revealed by the case authorities in 1957 when the provision was, in effect, newly enacted, and the case authorities, including Horie v. Nelson(1988), 20 B.C.L.R. (2d) 1, [1988] 2 W.W.R. 79 (C.A.), leave to appeal to S.C.C. refused 27 B.C.L.R. (2d) xxxv [Horie], Southin J.A. concluded, at 388:
[T]he maxim “ignorance of the law is no excuse” is not a rule of law determinative of an issue of statutory interpretation in every instance.
In the end, the question is simply what do the words at issue mean in the context. In my opinion, ignorance of the law is a factor to be taken into account. So for that matter is knowledge of the law. But all matters put forward as constituting either singly or together a reasonable excuse must be considered.
Those decisions of the court below which exclude ignorance of the law as a factor are, therefore, overruled.
[50] The decision in Teller does not propound a test or establish criteria which must be met before the court may find a reasonable excuse for the failure to give notice; instead, the decision invites a determination informed by the purpose or intent of the notice provision, taking into account all matters put forward as constituting either singly or together a reasonable excuse. The determination of whether there is reasonable excuse is contextual. The question is whether it is reasonable that the plaintiff be excused, having regard to all the circumstances.
[53] The parties are in accord that this Court’s decision in Teller is the leading authority in this province on the interpretation of the provision in s. 286(3)(a) requiring “a reasonable excuse” if there has been a failure to meet the two-month notice requirement. Based on Teller (at 382), counsel are also in accord that s. 286(3) permits this Court to substitute its opinion or its view of the facts untrammelled by the opinion of the court below, even if the judge was not patently wrong in the decision reached