The rigid application of In-Home Treatment Program guidelines, to the exclusion of the consideration of a family’s particular circumstances, amounted to an unreasonable exercise of discretion by the Defendant

24. August 2004 0
Administrative law – School boards – Powers and duties – Discretion of delegated authority – Special programs for autistic children – Funding – Guidelines – Judicial review – Administrative decisions – Standard of review – Reasonableness simpliciter – Remedies – Statutory provisions Dassonville-Trudel (Guardian ad litem of) v. Halifax Regional School Board, [2004] N.S.J. No. 241, Nova ...

Solicitor “Y” was found guilty of two charges of professional misconduct for failing to honour provisions in retainer agreements, in one instance a money-back guarantee and in another limiting fees to $2,500. He unsuccessfully applied for review of the decision of the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society (“Society”) pursuant to s. 32(13) of the Barristers and Solicitors Act, R.S.N.S. 1989, c.30 (the “Act”).

24. August 2004 0
Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society v. Solicitor “Y”, [2004] N.S.J. No. 260, Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, June 9, 2004, Glube C.J.N.S., Freeman and Fichaud JJ.A. The Court considered the standard of review analysis laid out in Pushpanathan v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), [1998] 1 S.C.R. 982. The Act did not contain a privative ...

C.J.M. was found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder on two counts of committing mischief. A year later the Nova Scotia Review Board (the “Board”) ordered a disposition which continued a conditional discharge granted to him some months earlier. C.J.M. appealed the conditional discharged contained in the disposition order. C.J.M. alleged that the Board committed certain errors in law, including the failure to follow the principles concerning the duties of a review board in interpreting section 672.54 of the Criminal Code (the “Code”) as set out in Winko v. British Columbia (Forensic Psychiatric Institute), [1999] 2 S.C.R. 625.

22. June 2004 0
R. v. C.J.M., [2004] N.S.J. No. 175, Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, May 6, 2004, Boland J.A. The Capital District Health Authority (“CDHA”) sought leave to intervene in C.J.M.’s appeal. The Crown opposed the intervention. The Crown argued that CDHA could have appealed the Review Board’s Order in its capacity as a party to the ...

Canada Post Corporation (“Canada Post”) successfully appealed from a decision of the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Tribunal (“WCAT”) that a worker (“Myatt”) had suffered a recurrence of a 1998 compensable stress injury and should be entitled to benefits on the basis that WCAT failed to defer to the decision of the Hearing Officer who had the advantage of hearing oral testimony in the matter

25. May 2004 0
Administrative law – Workers compensation – Benefits – Psychological injury – employment related – Test – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Evidenciary issues – Judicial review – Standard of review – Patent unreasonableness Canada Post Corp. v. Nova Scotia Workers’ Compensation Appeals Tribunal, [2004] N.S.J. No. 105, Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, March 16, 2004, Roscoe, Chipman and ...

The Lunenburg County District School Board (the “School Board”) appealed the decision of the Supreme Court quashing a decision by the Board of Appeal dismissing a teacher (“Haché”) charged with sexual offences against his students. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal holding that the evidence relied on by the Board of Appeal was not capable of supporting the evidence of the complainants.

25. May 2004 0
Administrative law – Teachers – Disciplinary proceedings – Decisions of administrative tribunals – School boards – Judicial review – Procedural requirements and fairness – Evidence – Witnesses Haché v. Lunenburg County District School Board, [2004] N.S.J. No. 120, Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, March 30, 2004, Glube C.J.N.S., Freeman and Cromwell JJ.A. In 1995, the School Board ...

The appeal by the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission (the “Commission”) from a preliminary decision of the Board of Inquiry (the “Board”) was dismissed. The Court of Appeal, applying a standard of review of correctness, held that the Board did not err in determining that the trial judge, in a parallel civil action for wrongful dismissal commenced by the complainant, had jurisdiction to deal with allegations of discrimination.

27. January 2004 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Human Rights Commission – Employment law – Wrongful dismissal – Parallel action – Jurisdiction of court to hear human rights complaint – Estoppel and res judicata – Judicial review – Standard of review – Correctness Kaiser v. Dural, a division of Multibond Inc., [2003] N.S.J. No. 418, Nova Scotia Court ...

The Applicant worker employed in the coal mines of Cape Breton Development Corporation (“Devco”), a federal corporation, applied for workers compensation based on loss of lung function due to occupational disease. The Workers’ Compensation Board refused his claims for want of evidence of loss of lung function. In dismissing the appeals, the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Tribunal held the worker to the civil standard of proof, because he was a federal employee claiming under the Government Employees Compensation Act (“GECA”). The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal held that the matter should be remitted to the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Tribunal for review of all the relevant evidence in light of the provisions of the Nova Scotia Workers’ Compensation Act.

23. December 2003 0
Administrative law – Workers compensation – Benefits – Statutory provisions – Federal and provincial legislation – Government employees – Judicial review – Administrative decisions – Compliance with legislation – Evidence – Jurisdiction McLellan v. Nova Scotia (Workers’ Compensation Appeals Tribunal), [2003] N.S.J. No. 365, Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, October 14, 2003, Glube C.J.N.S., Freeman and ...

Kings County succeeded in its appeal of a decision by the Nova Scotia Utility & Review Board, which had overturned a decision of the Municipal Council to enter into a Development Agreement allowing a property owner to carry on an excavation business in an area not zoned for that activity. The court found that the Board did not consider the appropriate issue of whether the Development Agreement carried out the intent of the Municipal Planning Strategy and instead, based its decision on improper factors, including complaints of nuisance by neighbouring landholders.

22. April 2003 0
Administrative law – Municipalities – Planning and zoning – Utility and Review Board – Jurisdiction Kings (County) v. Lutz, [2003] N.S.J. No. 56, Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, February 18, 2003, Glube C.J.N.S., Chipman and Saunders JJ.A. Robert Parker carried on an excavation business from his residence in Kings County. His father had carried on ...

Regulations made by an agricultural commodity board were not sufficiently framed to empower it to charge a fee for quotas for the marketing or production of chicken. The power to impose a fee, levy, or anything in the nature of a tax in the regulation of an industry must be explicitly conferred by the enabling legislation.

25. February 2003 0
Administrative law – Boards and tribunals – Jurisdiction – Legislation – Ultra vires Oulton v. Chicken Farmers of Nova Scotia, [2002] N.S.J. No. 513, Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, December 5, 2002, Saunders, Chipman and Hamilton JJ.A. The Respondent chicken producers had been, for 20 years, on a waiting list maintained by the Chicken Farmers of ...

An appeal by a registered nurse from a decision of the Appeal Committee of the Registered Nurses Association of Nova Scotia to dismiss his appeal from a decision of the Professional Conduct Committee which found that he was guilty of professional misconduct and revoked his licence. The appeal was based on several grounds including alleged procedural and fairness violations. The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.

24. December 2002 0
Administrative law – Nurses – Professional misconduct or conduct unbecoming – Investigative bodies – Fairness – Role of legal counsel – Judicial review – Breach of procedural fairness Fox v. Registered Nurses’ Assn. of Nova Scotia, [2002] N.S.J. No. 486, Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, November 13, 2002, Roscoe, Chipman and Bateman JJ.A. Mr. Fox was employed ...