John Kingman Phillips

The moving party brought a motion for leave to intervene as a friend of the court in an appeal involving stock broker liability.

The court applied the test for intervention and found that the proposed intervention would not make a useful contribution to the resolution of the appeal, as the issues in the main appeal were essentially fact-driven and the intervention was not supported by any of the parties.

The motion for intervenor status was dismissed with costs.

The accused, a lawyer, was charged with breach of trust, theft, and fraud.

A former secretary gave evidence favourable to the defence at the preliminary inquiry.

The Crown subsequently interviewed her, obtained statements, decided not to call her at trial, and refused to disclose the statements to the defence.

The trial judge dismissed the defence's application for disclosure, and the accused was convicted.

The Supreme Court of Canada allowed the appeal and ordered a new trial, establishing that the Crown has a legal duty to disclose all relevant information to the defence, subject to reviewable discretion regarding privilege, relevance, and timing.