The defendant, a criminal defence lawyer, brought a motion to dismiss the plaintiff's civil action for professional negligence as an abuse of process.
The plaintiff had been convicted of criminal offences, and his appeals, which included allegations of ineffective assistance of counsel against the defendant, were dismissed.
The court found that allowing the civil action to proceed would require re-litigating the criminal convictions and finding them incorrect, constituting an impermissible collateral attack.
However, noting the plaintiff's new evidence, the court stayed the action rather than dismissing it, pending a successful review of the convictions under the Criminal Code.
