Murray Klippenstein

The representative plaintiffs in two class actions against the Toronto Police Services Board for wrongful arrest and detention during the 2010 G20 Summit sought court approval for a proposed settlement and class counsel fees.

The settlement included up to $16.5 million in financial compensation, a public acknowledgement of wrongdoing, commitments to reform policing of public demonstrations, and expungement of arrest records.

The court found the settlement to be fair, reasonable, and in the best interests of the class, noting the significant non-monetary components and the risks of proceeding to trial.

The court also approved class counsel's legal fees, which amounted to approximately 28 percent of the recovery, as fair and reasonable.

The applicant sought declarations that police actions during the 2010 G20 summit violated his Charter rights to liberty, freedom of expression, and peaceful assembly, and alleged battery by an officer after he refused to permit a search of his backpack near the G20 security perimeter.

Police prevented him from proceeding southbound toward the summit site unless he permitted a search.

The court held that the police conduct was authorized under common law ancillary police powers and the Police Services Act duty to preserve the peace, given the heightened security context following violent riots the previous day.

Applying the Waterfield test and Supreme Court jurisprudence on investigative detention and security measures, the court found the interference with liberty minimal and justified.

The application was dismissed and the battery claim rejected as de minimis and protected under statutory authority.

A municipality sought an injunction preventing a church from operating a homeless men’s shelter in the basement of its church building in contravention of a zoning by-law enacted under the Planning Act.

The respondent argued the shelter constituted a church-sponsored activity or accessory use and alternatively claimed enforcement infringed its freedom of religion under s. 2(a) of the Charter.

The court held the shelter constituted an “emergency shelter” use not permitted within the zoning designation and not an accessory church use.

Enforcement of the zoning by-law did not substantially interfere with religious freedom because the restriction concerned the location of the shelter rather than the ability to operate one.

A declaration and permanent injunction were granted prohibiting continued operation of the shelter at the property.

The plaintiffs, indigenous Mayan Q'eqchi' from Guatemala, sued a Canadian mining company and its subsidiaries for human rights abuses allegedly committed by security personnel at a mining project in Guatemala.

The defendants brought motions to strike the claims for disclosing no reasonable cause of action, arguing that a parent company does not owe a duty of care for the actions of its foreign subsidiary.

The court dismissed the motions, finding that it was not plain and obvious that the negligence claims would fail, as the plaintiffs pleaded facts that could establish a novel duty of care.

The court also dismissed a motion to strike one of the actions as statute-barred, finding that the claim was based on sexual assault and fell within the exception in section 10 of the Limitations Act.

The plaintiff sought to certify a class action against multiple police services and government entities regarding mass arrests and detentions during the 2010 G20 Summit in Toronto.

The court dismissed the certification motion, finding that while some causes of action (like false imprisonment and battery) were properly pleaded against the Toronto Police Services Board, the claims against other defendants failed.

Crucially, the plaintiff failed to satisfy the identifiable class, common issues, and preferable procedure requirements of the Class Proceedings Act due to the highly variable individual conduct of protesters and the impermissible use of subclasses.

The moving parties, a Children's Aid Society and its employees, brought a motion for summary judgment to dismiss the responding party father's claims of slander, intentional wrongdoing, and negligence.

The claims arose from the Society's handling of false allegations made by the mother and police that the father was a terrorist and cult leader.

The court granted summary judgment dismissing the slander claim, as the alleged defamatory statements were written, not spoken.

However, the court dismissed the motion regarding the negligence and intentional tort claims, finding that the Society may owe a duty of care to a parent in a negligent investigation context, and that evidence of potential bad faith precluded the application of statutory immunity or the Syl Apps immunity doctrine.

The matter was directed to proceed to trial.