The Court dismissed an application for a declaration that a complaint received by the Institute of Chartered Accountants (the “Institute”) related to matters outside of its jurisdiction on the grounds that allowing judicial review at this stage would amount to a collateral attack on the discipline hearing decision. As well, there was inordinate delay which was the fault of the applicant. In the intervening 6 year period between the time the application was commenced and set down for hearing, the applicant had fully participated in a discipline hearing where he was found guilty of unprofessional conduct and unsuccessfully appealed the Discipline Tribunal’s decision.

28. October 2008 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Institute of Chartered Accountants – Accountants – Disciplinary proceedings – Professional misconduct / conduct unbecoming – Investigations – Judicial review – Delay – Jurisdiction – Remedies – Self-governing professions – Declaratory relief Curda v. Institute of Chartered Accountants of Alberta, [2008] A.J. No. 800, 2008 ABQB 443, ...

A decision of an appellate administrative tribunal, from which an unqualified right of appeal to an appellate court exists, on the issue of how long it should take a professional self-regulating disciplinary body to prosecute a disciplinary proceeding, is one which should be reviewed on a standard of reasonableness

26. August 2008 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Institute of Chartered Accountants – Accountants – Disciplinary proceedings – Judicial review – Investigations – Delay – Standard of review – Reasonableness simpliciter – Privative clauses – Stay of proceedings Hennig v. Institute of Chartered Accountants of Alberta, [2008] A.J. No. 707, 2008 ABCA 241, Alberta Court ...

Duty of fairness in investigative stage is only limited, and investigating members authorized by the professional conduct committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants to investigate the complaint met their duty by advising the applicant accountant of the generalities of what was being investigated. There was no obligation to provide full particulars. However, the professional conduct committee’s recommendation to hold a hearing was subject to judicial review, prior to the hearing being held. The decision had a significant adverse effect on the applicant and, as the professional conduct committee owed a duty of fairness to the applicant accountant, that duty of fairness may be defeated if judicial review was unavailable. Finally, the professional conduct committee had jurisdiction to investigate matters not specified in the complaint because these matters were sufficiently closely related to the complaint, it was in the context of public interest, there was lack of precise technical knowledge on the part of the public, and the legislative powers to investigate a complaint given to the committee were broad.

22. April 2008 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Institute of Chartered Accountants – Accountants – Disciplinary proceedings – Investigations – Procedural fairness – Bias – Evidence – Judicial review – Compliance with legislation  – Jurisdiction – Public interest Swanson v. Institute of Chartered Accountants of Saskatchewan, [2007] S.J. No. 701, Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench, ...

The Competence Committee of the Certified General Accountants Association of Ontario (the “Competence Committee”) was successful in obtaining judicial review of a decision of the Appeal Tribunal of the Association where the Court held that the Tribunal made a decision on matters that were not before it and, in doing so, breached its duty to act fairly

26. December 2007 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Certified General Accountants – Accountants – Disciplinary proceedings – Judicial review – Jurisdiction of tribunal – Procedural requirements and fairness Certified General Accountants Assn. of Ontario v. Certified General Accountants Assn. of Ontario, [2007] O.J. No. 4299, Ontario Superior Court of Justice, November 7, 2007, J.D. Carnwath, ...

A former student of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario brought an application for judicial review of a decision of the Appeal Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario (“ICAO”) which allowed an appeal from the sanction imposed by the Discipline Committee and ruled that the student’s name was to be disclosed in the publication reporting the sanction and that his discipline file was not to be sealed. The court held that the decision of the Appeal Committee was reasonable and the application was therefore dismissed.

27. September 2005 0
Administrative law – Accountants – Disciplinary proceedings – Suspensions – Penalties – Publication ban – Judicial review – Jurisdiction of tribunal – Disclosure – Standard of review – Reasonableness simpliciter John Doe v. Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario, [2005] O.J. No. 3013, Ontario Superior Court of Justice, July 14, 2005, P.T. Matlow, E.M. Macdonald and ...

The Court dismissed an appeal from a decision of the Respondent Institute’s Appeal Tribunal which had decided to refer two allegations of unprofessional conduct to the Discipline Tribunal Roster Chair and not to allow the Appellant to make representations to the Appeal Tribunal. The Court held that, under the Act, it was premature for the Court to hear an appeal at this stage of the proceedings.

23. August 2005 0
Administrative law – Accountants – Disciplinary proceedings – Procedural fairness – Judicial review – Natural justice – Appeal process – Hearings – Conduct of hearings Partington v. Institute of Chartered Accountants of Alberta, [2005] A.J. No. 787, Alberta Court of Appeal, July 4, 2005, Russell and Picard JJ.A. and Ouellette J. The Appellant was a Chartered Accountant ...

A member of the Law Society of British Columbia and the Certified Accountants Association of British Columbia (the “Appellant”), brought an action for damages for defamation, malicious prosecution, negligence, misfeasance in public office etc. against the members of the Professional Conduct Inquiry Committee and the Director of Ethics of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (the “Respondents”) after they forwarded an investigator’s report to the Law Society and Certified General Accountants Association. The B.C. Court of Appeal held that a person who provides information to a professional disciplinary body about the conduct of one of its members, is not liable in an action brought by that member. The communication is subject to absolute privilege, which provides a defence to all claims. In addition, while the filing of a jury notice is an important factor to consider in assessing whether a matter is appropriate for summary trial, and may “hold an extra value in cases of defamation”, it is not a bar to bringing an application for summary trial pursuant to Rule 18A. The trial judge exercised his discretion in determining that the matter was appropriate for disposition by summary trial and made no error in principle in deciding the case under Rule 18A.

22. July 2003 0
Administrative law – Accountants – Disciplinary proceedings – Investigative bodies – Powers – Jurisdiction – Absolute privilege – Practice and procedure – Jury notice – Summary proceedings Hung v. Gardiner, [2003] B.C.J. No. 1048, British Columbia Court of Appeal, May 6, 2003, Ryan, Hall and Levine JJ.A. The Appellant is a member of the Law Society of ...

The Plaintiff’s claim for damages arising out of the Defendant’s delivery of an investigation report to the professional association to which she belonged were dismissed. The Defendants were found to have acted in good faith and their actions were protected by absolute privilege.

24. September 2002 0
Administrative law – Accountants – Disciplinary proceedings – Investigative bodies – Powers – Jurisdiction – Qualified privilege Hung v. Gardiner, [2002] B.C.J. No. 1918, British Columbia Supreme Court, August 21, 2002, Joyce J. Following an investigation of the Plaintiff’s supervising chartered accountant, the Professional Conduct Enquiry Committee (“PCEC”) of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of British ...

An accountant {“Walman”) was the subject of disciplinary proceedings by his professional association. Findings of misconduct by the Association were appealed by Walman and eventually overturned. Walman brought an action for abuse of public office against the Association and certain employees which was dismissed as the court found that the evidence did not support an inference that the Association’s auditors recklessly exceeded their powers in the disciplinary hearings.

27. August 2002 0
Administrative law – Accountants – Disciplinary proceedings – Investigative bodies – Jurisdiction – Powers – Abuse of public office Walman v. Certified General Accountants Assn. of British Columbia, [2002] B.C.J. No. 1560, British Columbia Supreme Court, July 8, 2002, Curtis J. Walman was an accountant who became the subject of disciplinary proceedings brought by the Certified General ...