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Riot participants were not automatically solidarily liable for total vehicle losses.
The City sought to hold identified rioters solidarily liable for the full loss of specific patrol cars damaged during a hockey riot.
The Court held that solidarity under article 1480 C.C.Q. requires impossibility of identifying who caused the injury and, for joint participation, a common intention, both absent on these facts.
It also held article 1526 C.C.Q. did not apply because the trial judge found distinct identifiable injuries linked to distinct faults rather than one single injury caused by common or contributory faults.
Liability in solidum could not be used to bypass the Civil Code framework for extracontractual solidarity.
The appeal was dismissed, with a dissent favoring solidary liability for groups that destroyed each vehicle together.
Drug evidence excluded after arbitrary traffic stop and unlawful vehicle search.
The accused was charged with possession of cannabis for the purpose of trafficking after police discovered 85.6 kilograms in the rear compartment of a pickup truck during a highway stop.
The defence sought exclusion of the evidence under ss. 8 and 9 of the Charter, arguing the vehicle stop and subsequent search were unconstitutional.
The court found the officer’s explanation for the stop not credible and determined the stop was a pretext unrelated to road safety, amounting to arbitrary detention.
The warrantless search of the vehicle flowed directly from that unlawful detention and constituted an unreasonable search.
Applying s. 24(2) of the Charter, the court excluded the cannabis evidence and acquitted the accused.
