Suzanne Duncan

The appellant, a lesbian, challenged the constitutionality of federal regulations governing semen donation for assisted conception, arguing they discriminated against women using known donors who were not spouses or sexual partners.

Before the application was heard, the appellant successfully self-inseminated and the government amended the regulations, leading the application judge to dismiss the case as moot.

The Court of Appeal upheld the mootness finding and declined to hear the Charter issues as a court of first instance.

However, the Court granted a motion to add another woman in the same situation as a party and remitted her application to the Superior Court for an expedited hearing on the constitutional issues.

Three separate appeals were brought challenging a motions judge's order regarding claims related to defective breast implants.

OHIP appealed the striking of its subrogated claim, which the court dismissed, finding the claim was fully satisfied by the Dow Settlement Agreement.

The Attorney General and Dow appealed the dismissal of their motions to strike the plaintiffs' action for regulatory negligence, arguing the settlement agreements barred the claims and constituted an abuse of process.

The Court of Appeal dismissed all appeals, holding that the plaintiffs' several liability claims against the government regulator were different in nature and kind from the settled claims and were not barred by the prior agreements.

The appellant was convicted of second-degree murder for shooting his wife 13 times and was sentenced to life imprisonment with 15 years of parole ineligibility.

On appeal, he argued that the trial was rendered unfair because the Crown retained and obtained notes from a psychiatrist initially consulted by the defence, breaching privilege.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the conviction appeal, finding that privilege was likely waived and no prejudice resulted since the Crown did not lead the evidence.

The Court also dismissed arguments regarding jury instructions on automatism, section 16, and reasonable doubt.

However, the sentence appeal was allowed, and parole ineligibility was reduced to 13 years because the trial judge improperly relied on unproven hearsay evidence of a prior attempted murder as an aggravating factor.