The plaintiff brought a motion for summary judgment in a civil action alleging assault, battery, excessive force, malicious prosecution, and Charter breaches arising from an incident at the Senate of Canada.
The plaintiff relied solely on reasons from a prior criminal trial in which he had been acquitted of charges related to the same incident, arguing that relitigation would constitute an abuse of process under the principles in Toronto (City) v. C.U.P.E., Local 79.
The court held that the defendants had not been parties to the criminal proceeding and had not had the opportunity to defend themselves or advance defences such as parliamentary privilege.
The court found that allowing the defendants to defend the civil claim would not amount to an abuse of process and that genuine issues requiring a trial remained.
