A person who was hit, threatened, held against their will or deliberately tormented has a civil claim against the person who did it, separate from anything the police or the Crown decide to do. The claim does not depend on a charge being laid or a conviction being entered, it is decided on the balance of probabilities rather than beyond a reasonable doubt, and it ends in a judgment for money rather than a sentence. Keystone Legal brings these claims at the Court of King’s Bench in Calgary, most often arising from violence within a relationship or a family, and defends people who are wrongly accused of them.
The four claims
Battery is intentional physical contact that is harmful or offensive and that the person did not consent to. It covers a blow, a shove, a grab or any other unwanted touching, and it does not require proof of injury, because the wrong is the contact itself. Assault, in civil law, is the act of causing someone to reasonably fear that such contact is about to happen, whether or not it follows, so a raised fist, a lunge or a credible threat made face to face can each ground a claim on its own.
False imprisonment, which most people would call forcible confinement, is the intentional restraint of a person’s liberty without lawful authority. It does not require a locked room, since blocking a doorway, taking car keys and a phone, threatening what will happen if the person leaves, or asserting an authority that does not exist can each amount to confinement if the person reasonably believed they were not free to go, and a short period is enough. Once the restraint is shown, the burden shifts to the person who imposed it to prove that the law allowed it.
Intentional infliction of mental suffering covers conduct that is flagrant and outrageous, that was calculated to cause harm, and that produced a recognizable psychiatric injury rather than distress alone. It reaches the campaign of cruelty that leaves no bruise. Since the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Ahluwalia v Ahluwalia in 2026, a pattern of coercive control within an intimate relationship is also actionable as a tort of intimate partner violence in its own right, and where the facts support it the firm pleads that claim alongside these four, as the intimate partner violence page explains.
No charge is required
The civil claim and the criminal process are separate and run on separate standards. A decision by the police not to charge, or by the Crown not to proceed, does not prevent a civil claim, and an acquittal does not defeat one, because the civil court asks only whether the conduct more probably happened than not. Where there has been a conviction, it is strong evidence in the civil case and the defendant will not usually be permitted to relitigate the facts behind it. Where there has been nothing at all, the civil claim is often the only forum in which the conduct is ever examined.
Who these claims are brought against
Most of the claims the firm sees arise within an intimate relationship or a family, and they are brought against a current or former partner, a parent or step-parent, or another relative. The same torts apply where the restraint or the force came from a stranger with a badge or a uniform. A store, a security company or a police service that detains a person without the authority the law requires can be liable in false imprisonment, and the question in those cases is whether the detention was justified, which is for the defendant to prove, rather than whether the person was in fact guilty of anything.
Time limits
Alberta removed the limitation period for civil claims based on sexual assault, and for claims of other sexual misconduct, assault or battery where the person was a minor at the time, was in an intimate relationship with the defendant, or was dependent on them. Those claims can be brought at any time, which is why the firm takes historical claims as well as recent ones. For other assault and battery claims, and for confinement and mental suffering claims on their own, the ordinary two year limitation runs from when the claim was discoverable, and advice should be taken early rather than late.
What a claim can recover
Battery and false imprisonment are actionable without proof of loss, so general damages are awarded for the wrong itself, with more where there was injury, humiliation or lasting harm. Aggravated damages address the way the conduct was carried out, and punitive damages can be added where it was high-handed or malicious. Two practical points shape every file of this kind. Home and business insurance policies ordinarily exclude intentional acts, so recovery usually depends on what the defendant owns or earns, and that is assessed before a claim is started rather than after judgment. Where a claim arises within a marriage or an adult interdependent relationship, it is brought as a civil action in its own right rather than inside the family file, though the two inform each other and the firm runs them together.
Where the firm can act
These claims are brought where the file proceeds through the Calgary Courts Centre, which covers Calgary and the communities of the Calgary judicial district. Advice on whether a claim exists, what it is worth and whether it is worth bringing is available anywhere in Alberta. The practice is virtual, so meetings happen by video, telephone and email, with in-person meetings available on request in Cochrane or in Calgary.
If you were held, struck or threatened and want to know what the law allows you to do about it, call (587) 328-3328.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. A report, a charge or a conviction is not needed for the civil claim. A report helps as evidence if one exists, but its absence does not prevent the claim.
Yes. In civil law it is called false imprisonment, and it covers any intentional restraint of your liberty without lawful authority, including being prevented from leaving by threats or by taking your keys and phone, not only being locked in.
There is no time limit for claims based on sexual assault, or for assault and battery by a partner, a parent or someone you depended on. Other claims run on the general two-year limitation from discovery.
Sometimes not, and the firm says so at the first meeting. Insurance rarely covers intentional acts, so recovery depends on the defendant’s assets and income, which are assessed before anything is filed.
