Ernest J. Guiste

The appellant police officer was convicted of dangerous driving following an off-duty road rage incident and sentenced to 30 days in jail.

Based on this criminal conviction, a Hearing Officer found him guilty of discreditable conduct under the Police Services Act and ordered his dismissal.

The officer appealed, arguing the disciplinary hearing should have been stayed pending his criminal appeal and that the Hearing Officer should have accepted his alternate version of events.

The Ontario Civilian Police Commission dismissed the appeal, finding no error in the Hearing Officer's reliance on the criminal conviction or in the penalty of dismissal, noting the Crown had not requested a stay of the disciplinary proceedings.

The appellant was arrested for sexual assault during an undercover police operation targeting public sex in a park.

After the criminal charge was withdrawn, the appellant sued the police for negligence, malicious prosecution, and Charter breaches.

The trial judge dismissed the action.

On appeal, the appellant argued the trial judge erred in rejecting proposed expert evidence, failing to consider his section 15(1) Charter discrimination claim, and dismissing the malicious prosecution claim.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding the expert evidence was unnecessary, the trial judge properly considered and rejected the Charter claim, and there was no evidence of malice to support malicious prosecution.

The appellant appealed the dismissal of a claim for damages for alleged wrongful dismissal.

The Court of Appeal held the matter was fact driven and found no significant error in the trial judge's factual findings or application of law.

The appeal was dismissed with costs.

The appellant challenged the dismissal of his action against counsel retained by his union to present his grievance under a collective agreement.

The Court of Appeal held that, in essence, the dispute arose from the administration of the collective agreement and the only duty owed to the appellant was the union’s duty of fair representation under s. 37 of the Canada Labour Code.

Because complaints alleging breach of that duty fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Canada Labour Relations Board, the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the action.

The court therefore dismissed the appeal and found it unnecessary to address issue estoppel.