Amanda M. Pinto

The Court of Appeal for Ontario dismissed the Law Society of Ontario’s appeal regarding the respondent’s application for licensure as a paralegal.

The court found that the tribunals below properly considered the respondent’s criminal offence and professional misconduct, and that there was no error in their assessment of her rehabilitation and good character.

The appeal was dismissed with costs to the respondent.

The defendant, Town of Gravenhurst, brought a motion to amend its third-party claim against Ontario to include new allegations of negligence related to a two-year driving prohibition for careless driving, distinct from the original claim concerning medical suspensions.

The court found the proposed amendments constituted a new cause of action.

Applying the recent Court of Appeal decision in Mega International Commercial Bank (Canada) v. Yung, the court confirmed that the discoverability principle applies to claims for contribution and indemnity under s. 18 of the Limitations Act, 2002.

Given the insufficient evidentiary record to determine when the new claim could have been reasonably discovered, the court allowed the amendment, preserving Ontario's right to plead a limitation period defence at trial.

The plaintiff, a former municipal councillor, brought a motion for summary judgment to quash a municipal by-law that authorized the deduction of postage expenses from his severance pay.

The court found that the municipality lacked the statutory authority to enact a by-law directed specifically at recovering an expense from a single individual's severance pay.

The court concluded that the municipality acted unreasonably, arbitrarily, and in bad faith.

The by-law was declared illegal and quashed.