Katie Gibson

The plaintiffs, nurses who contracted SARS during the 2003 outbreak, sued Ontario for negligence and breach of section 7 of the Charter.

Ontario moved to strike the claim, arguing it owed no private law duty of care to the nurses.

The motion judge struck parts of the claim but allowed the action to proceed.

On appeal, the Court of Appeal struck the entire claim, holding that Ontario's duty to protect the public from communicable diseases does not create a private law duty of care to individual healthcare workers.

The Court also found no basis for the section 7 Charter claim, as the government's actions were not arbitrary.

The appellant appealed an order denying an adjournment and finding no good defence on the merits.

The Court of Appeal found no error in the motion judge's exercise of discretion to deny the adjournment and agreed that the appellant failed to show a good defence on the merits.

The appeal was dismissed with costs.