The Corporation of the Town of Erin appealed a sentence imposed on Patricia Kentner for an illegal dumping/landfill by-law offence.
The original court imposed a $5,000 fine but declined a discretionary special fine, citing Kentner's diminished moral blameworthiness (her son was the operating mind), the principle of totality (remediation costs for GRCA charges), and crucially, the lack of accurate estimates for the landfill volume.
The appeal focused on whether the Justice of the Peace erred in declining the special fine, particularly regarding the application of the totality principle and the reliance on inaccurate estimates.
The appellate court dismissed the appeal, upholding the original decision, finding no palpable and overriding error in the Justice of the Peace's finding that accurate estimates were lacking, which was the paramount reason for not imposing the special fine.
