Richard Stephenson

The Court of Appeal for Ontario heard a motion to quash a motion for leave to appeal.

The underlying dispute arose from a commercial arbitration where the arbitrator made a preliminary ruling on jurisdiction over a counterclaim.

The Superior Court reversed this ruling.

The Court of Appeal granted the motion to quash, holding that under section 17(9) of the Arbitration Act, 1991, there is no right of appeal from a court's decision reviewing an arbitrator's preliminary jurisdictional ruling, distinguishing it from an appeal of an award.

An appeal of a stay of proceedings granted under s. 11(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in a workplace fatality case.

The respondents were charged with offences under the Occupational Health and Safety Act following the death of a worker at a gold mine.

The trial was scheduled to begin approximately three months beyond the 18-month presumptive ceiling established in R. v. Jordan.

The application judge stayed the charges, finding the Crown had failed to develop and follow a concrete plan to minimize delay in this particularly complex case.

The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, finding the application judge had misinterpreted the particularly complex case exception by using the presumptive ceiling as a benchmark for assessing the Crown's conduct, rather than assessing whether the Crown reasonably attempted to minimize delay occasioned by the case's complexity.

The Crown sought leave to appeal a decision staying regulatory charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act on the basis of unreasonable delay contrary to s. 11(b) of the Charter.

The charges arose from a workplace fatality at a gold mine where a worker was poisoned by cyanide.

The Ontario Court of Justice found that the net delay of 23 months exceeded the presumptive ceiling of 18 months and that the Crown failed to develop and follow a concrete plan to minimize delay.

The Superior Court dismissed the Crown's appeal.

The Crown sought leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal on four grounds relating to the calculation of delay and the application of the Jordan framework.

The Crown appealed a decision staying charges against the respondents under the Occupational Health and Safety Act due to unreasonable delay under section 11(b) of the Charter.

The trial judge found a 23-month delay and concluded the Crown failed to develop and follow a concrete plan to minimize delay in a complex case.

The Superior Court of Justice dismissed the appeal, finding no palpable and overriding error in the trial judge's conclusion that the Crown's failure to secure a trial date in a timely manner and its problematic case management fell below the standard required by Jordan.