Drainage Tribunal decision set aside due to reasonable apprehension of bias from pre-hearing site visit.
The Township of Howard appealed a decision of the Ontario Drainage Tribunal that had altered the assessment of costs for repairing a municipal drain.
The Referee found that the Tribunal breached the rules of natural justice and created a reasonable apprehension of bias by conducting a pre-hearing site visit, forming a tentative opinion before hearing evidence, and relying on unsworn testimony from an unidentified witness.
The Referee set aside the Tribunal's decision and restored the original assessment prepared by the drainage engineer.
ODROntario Court of the Drainage RefereeApr 16, 1996
