The employer appealed a Divisional Court decision dismissing its application for judicial review of an arbitrator's award.
The arbitrator had allowed a union grievance on a preliminary motion because the employer's consultant inadvertently destroyed documents relevant to the grievance, concluding that a fair hearing was impossible.
The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, finding that the Divisional Court erred in applying a reasonableness standard to an issue of natural justice.
The Court held that the inadvertent destruction of documents in a civil context is a procedural matter calling for procedural remedies, such as adverse inferences, rather than the extraordinary remedy of granting the grievance without a hearing on the merits.
The award was quashed and the matter remitted for a hearing on the merits.
