Heather Webster

The applicant widow brought a constitutional challenge against the eligibility criteria for liver transplants, arguing that the requirement for patients with alcohol-related liver disease to demonstrate abstinence or undergo rigorous multidisciplinary screening discriminated against them on the basis of their alcohol use disorder.

The court found that while the estate had standing to bring the claim, the challenge to the historical six-month sobriety rule was moot.

On the merits of the current criteria, the court held there was no violation of sections 15(1), 7, or 12 of the Charter, as the criteria were based on the best available medical evidence to allocate scarce organs to those most likely to have successful outcomes.

The court also found that the living donor program criteria were clinical policies not subject to Charter scrutiny.

The defendants brought motions to strike the plaintiffs' statement of claim under rules 21.01 and 25.11 of the Rules of Civil Procedure.

The plaintiffs, a home builder and its principal, alleged various torts and statutory breaches against Tarion Warranty Corporation, several municipalities, CTV News, and a public health authority, claiming hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.

The court found the 40-page statement of claim to be unwieldy, repetitive, and deficient in pleading the necessary material facts for the alleged causes of action.

The court struck the statement of claim in its entirety, dismissing claims based on criminal statutes, the Competition Act, the Security of Information Act, intentional interference with economic relations, discrimination, and harassment without leave to amend.

However, the court granted the plaintiffs leave to move for an order permitting them to deliver a fresh statement of claim restricted to specific causes of action, including injurious falsehood, inducing breach of contract, civil conspiracy, and negligence, provided they can properly plead the required material facts.