J. Vincent O’Donnell

The applicant Indian bands brought motions to vacate a unanimous judgment of the Supreme Court of Canada, alleging a reasonable apprehension of bias.

The allegation stemmed from the fact that the judge who authored the reasons had been the federal Associate Deputy Minister of Justice over 15 years prior, during the early stages of the litigation.

The Court dismissed the motions, finding that the judge's prior involvement was limited to a supervisory and administrative role, he had no recollection of the file, and a reasonable, right-minded person would not apprehend bias given the passage of time and the nature of his involvement.

The Fabrique brought an action against the architect, engineers, and general contractor for construction defects that led to the loss of the church's walls and dome.

The trial court held the action was prescribed under art. 2259 C.C. The Court of Appeal reversed in part, finding the architect liable but dismissing the action against the engineers and contractor.

The Supreme Court of Canada held that the action was not prescribed, as the defects appeared gradually, meaning the five-year prescription period began only after the initial five-year warranty period under art. 1688 C.C. The architect, engineers, and contractor were held jointly and severally liable for the walls, but only the architect was liable for the dome.

The City of Montreal appealed a decision quashing By-law 4876, which increased the special tax on private parking grounds and calculated it based on square footage.

The respondents challenged the by-law on several grounds, including that the City lacked the authority under its Charter to calculate the tax based on area.

The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the appeal, holding that municipal corporations must exercise only those taxing powers expressly conferred by the legislature.

Because the Charter did not expressly authorize the City to impose a variable tax based on area for parking lots, the by-law was ultra vires.