J. Foreman

The applicant, charged with sexual assault, brought an application to stay proceedings under s. 11(b) of the Charter due to pre-trial delay.

The applicant argued that a new presumptive ceiling of 22 months should apply to cases proceeding to the Superior Court without a preliminary hearing following the enactment of Bill C-75.

The court rejected the proposed new ceiling, finding no evidence to justify altering the Jordan framework, especially given ongoing systemic delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The net delay of 26.7 months fell below the 30-month Jordan ceiling, and the application was dismissed.

The plaintiff in a class action regarding alleged over-recovery of fuel surcharges by the defendant railway company brought a motion for documentary production and to compel answers to questions refused on cross-examination.

The defendant had brought a motion for summary judgment based on narrow legal grounds, arguing that the Canada Transportation Act is a complete code and that the claims are statute-barred or disclose no cause of action.

The court dismissed the plaintiff's motions, finding that the requested production and answers related to the factual issue of over-recovery, which was irrelevant to the purely legal issues raised in the defendant's summary judgment motion.

The court also accepted the defendant's evidence that the specific data requested by the plaintiff did not exist and would require complex, arbitrary allocation to create.