The proposed plaintiff sought pre-action disclosure of the Ontario Provincial Police investigative file relating to a serious motor vehicle collision in order to identify potential defendants and assess liability before commencing a civil action.
The Ministry resisted disclosure on the basis that information had been withheld under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
The court held that although the urgent motion procedure under the Rules of Civil Procedure was not available, equitable pre-action discovery in the nature of a Norwich order remained available.
Given the statutory obligation under the Highway Traffic Act to exchange identifying information following a collision and the potential relevance of the police file to determining liability and identifying parties, the court found the requested disclosure necessary and appropriate.
Production of the file was ordered subject to protections allowing redaction of unrelated information and safeguarding law enforcement interests.
