The Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO) appealed a decision of its Discipline Panel that dismissed four allegations of professional misconduct against an engineer and his firm regarding their environmental assessment and remediation of an oil spill.
The Divisional Court allowed the appeal, finding that the Panel committed several errors of law, including applying a standard of proof higher than the balance of probabilities, failing to treat practising without a Certificate of Authorization as a strict liability offence, improperly drawing an adverse inference, and applying the tort concepts of harm and causation to the regulatory definition of negligence.
The court set aside the Panel's decision and remitted the matter to be reheard by a differently constituted panel.
