ODC 2011

The appellant was successful in an appeal determining that the respondents had no authority under the Building Code Act to issue orders that caused a care facility to be immediately evacuated.

In this costs endorsement, the appellant sought substantial indemnity costs of $40,204.57, while the respondents suggested $5,000 to $7,500.

The court found no bad faith but noted the respondents ignored the appellant's rights to reasonable notice and an opportunity to remediate when other legal options were available.

The court exercised its discretion to award the appellant costs in an elevated amount of $20,000 all inclusive.

The applicant, a university instructor, sought judicial review of an investigator's report and the university's subsequent determination dismissing her workplace harassment and discrimination complaint against a colleague.

The parties had previously agreed to bypass the collective agreement's formal inquiry panel process in favour of a private investigation.

The Divisional Court dismissed the application, finding that the customized, private process lacked the requisite public character to be amenable to judicial review, and also dismissed a motion to set aside a single judge's order striking the applicant's affidavit for containing inadmissible evidence.

The applicant resort sought judicial review of an Ontario Labour Relations Board decision upholding an inspector's order.

The order required the resort to report the drowning of a guest in an unsupervised swimming pool under s. 51(1) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

The Divisional Court upheld the Board's findings that 'person' includes non-workers and that the swimming pool was a 'workplace' because workers perform duties there, even if none were present during the incident.

The application for judicial review was dismissed.

The appellant lawyer appealed a decision of the Law Society Appeal Panel affirming his disbarment for professional misconduct.

The Hearing Panel found he knowingly participated in a dishonest scheme to obtain mortgage funds by being reckless and willfully blind to fraudulent real estate transactions.

The Divisional Court held that the standard of review was reasonableness and found no error in the panels' conclusions regarding misconduct or the penalty of disbarment.

The appeal was dismissed with costs.

The applicant sought judicial review of an Information and Privacy Commissioner order requiring the disclosure of records containing homeowners' addresses and environmental test results.

The Divisional Court set aside the order and remitted the matter for a new hearing.

The court found that the information arguably constituted 'personal information' and that procedural fairness, as well as potentially section 28 of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, required that the affected homeowners be given notice and an opportunity to be heard before their information could be disclosed.

The applicant sought judicial review of an interlocutory decision by the Law Society Hearing Panel refusing to permanently stay disciplinary proceedings against her.

She alleged breaches of procedural fairness and language rights, noting the Panel released its reasons in English and provided a French translation six weeks later despite the hearing being in French.

The Divisional Court dismissed the application as premature, finding no exceptional circumstances to justify fragmenting the administrative process.

The Court held that the applicant could raise both the procedural fairness and language rights issues before the Law Society Appeal Panel at the conclusion of the proceedings.

The Children's Aid Society brought a motion to enforce a settlement of an appeal in a child protection matter.

The appellant father had offered to withdraw his appeal if the Society undertook to place the child for adoption in Canada, with the offer open until one minute after the commencement of the appeal.

The appeal was called but adjourned to appoint counsel for the child, without any argument on the merits.

The Society subsequently accepted the offer.

The Divisional Court held that the appeal had not commenced, the offer remained valid, and enforcing the settlement was in the child's best interests.

The landlord brought a motion for a contempt order, vacant possession, and arrears of rent against the tenant.

The court previously granted vacant possession and arrears but dismissed the contempt request.

In this costs decision, the court noted divided success but awarded costs to the landlord, fixing them at $2,000 inclusive of fees, disbursements, and taxes.

Following the dismissal of the appellant's appeal, the parties initially agreed not to seek costs.

However, the self-represented appellant breached this agreement by filing costs submissions and seeking costs in his favour.

Consequently, the successful respondents sought and were awarded their costs on a partial indemnity scale, fixed at $5,000 for the University of Ottawa defendants and $1,000 for Dr. Weitzman.

The applicant sought judicial review of two decisions by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal denying him compensation for a back injury allegedly sustained at work.

The applicant argued the Tribunal adjudicator was biased and that the decisions were unreasonable.

The Divisional Court dismissed the application, finding no reasonable apprehension of bias as the applicant failed to object at the hearing, and concluding the Tribunal's finding that no workplace accident occurred was reasonable and supported by the evidence.

The appellant physician appealed a decision of the Discipline Committee finding him guilty of professional misconduct for making false statements to his disability insurers regarding his capacity to work.

The Committee had suspended his certificate of registration for six months.

The Divisional Court dismissed the appeal, finding that the Committee's conclusions were reasonable, supported by ample evidence, and that the penalty fell within the range of reasonableness.

The City of Windsor appealed an Ontario Municipal Board decision awarding compensation to landowners for expropriated property.

The City argued the Board erred by ignoring the land's natural features and provincial policy statements when determining market value, and by improperly assessing injurious affection and interest.

The Divisional Court dismissed the appeal, finding the Board's conclusions on the scope of the expropriation scheme, the highest and best use of the land, and the appropriate comparators were reasonable and supported by the evidence.

The applicant sought judicial review of an Ontario Labour Relations Board decision finding that her union did not breach its duty of fair representation under s. 74 of the Labour Relations Act by failing to pursue her grievance regarding her layoff and dismissal.

The Divisional Court dismissed the application, finding that the Board's decision was reasonable, supported by evidence, and did not involve a denial of procedural fairness.

The applicants sought judicial review of an interlocutory decision by the Coroner refusing to issue a summons for the production of videos depicting interactions between correctional staff and the deceased, Ashley Smith.

The Divisional Court found that the Coroner applied an incorrect and overly stringent test by requiring a demonstrated 'nexus' between the videos and the death, rather than assessing whether the evidence was 'material' to the purposes of the inquest.

The Court quashed the Coroner's decision and remitted the issue for reconsideration, holding that the denial of access to potentially relevant evidence constituted a breach of natural justice.

The Attorney General applied for forfeiture of $5,545 seized during a drug investigation under the Civil Remedies Act.

The respondent brought a motion to strike portions of the supporting affidavit that referred to his criminal record and past drug-related activity, arguing it was inadmissible propensity evidence.

The motion judge dismissed the motion.

The respondent appealed to the Divisional Court.

The Divisional Court dismissed the appeal, holding that similar fact evidence of bad character is admissible in civil forfeiture proceedings where its probative value outweighs its prejudicial effect, as it is relevant to whether the seized money is proceeds of unlawful activity.

Following the dismissal of the appellant mother's stay motion in a child protection proceeding, the respondent sought costs on a substantial indemnity basis.

The court considered the appellant's unreasonable behaviour, including her delay in perfecting the appeal and her failure to accept a reasonable settlement offer.

Applying the principles from Boucher and the factors in Family Law Rule 24(11), the court fixed the respondent's costs at $16,500 plus HST and disbursements, payable forthwith.

The applicants sought to appeal and judicially review an arbitrator's decision finding them personally liable for the tort of deceit in a real estate venture.

They argued the arbitrator lacked jurisdiction over them personally as they had not signed the arbitration agreement in their personal capacities.

The Divisional Court dismissed the applications, finding the applicants had agreed to arbitration by their conduct, including obtaining a prior court order referring the claims to arbitration, and had waived any jurisdictional objections by participating without complaint.

The court also held that judicial review is unavailable for private commercial arbitrations and that the arbitration agreement's 'final and binding' clause precluded any appeal.

The Equal Pay Coalition brought a motion for leave to intervene as a friend of the court in a judicial review of a decision by the Pay Equity Hearings Tribunal.

The underlying application concerned whether the employer failed to maintain compensation practices providing for pay equity.

The employer opposed the intervention, arguing the Coalition would not make a useful contribution and would duplicate the union's submissions.

The Divisional Court granted the motion, finding the Coalition could bring a broader perspective and constructive contribution to the issues, particularly regarding international conventions and the relationship between the Pay Equity Act and the Human Rights Code.

The intervention was granted subject to strict limits on the Coalition's participation.

During a judicial review application challenging a coroner's decision not to compel the advance production of tapes for an inquest, an issue arose regarding access to information on USB keys.

The Divisional Court ruled that there was no formal motion before the court regarding media access.

Furthermore, the court determined it did not need to access the information on the USB keys at that time, as the parties had already accessed the information and referred to it in their materials without apparent prejudice.

The applicant sought judicial review for a declaration that the Ministry of Transportation unreasonably withheld a clearance letter for a subdivision development.

The Divisional Court dismissed the application as premature, noting that the Ministry was still actively reviewing the engineering drawings.

The Court further held that the appropriate forum to address difficulties in implementing draft plan approval conditions is the Ontario Municipal Board, which retained jurisdiction over the matter.