An application for judicial review of an Arbitrator’s decision which held that a police officer was entitled to indemnification under the collective agreement for legal costs incurred in defending a criminal charge despite having pled guilty to a charge of insubordination. The Court held that breach of a rule or directive does not automatically lead to the conclusion that the officer was not attempting to perform his police duty in good faith. The application for judicial review was dismissed.

24. July 2007 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Police Commission – Arbitration Board – Police – Criminal charges – Disciplinary proceedings – Judicial review – Applications – Costs – Legal fees Toronto Police Services Board v. Toronto Police Assn., [2007] O.J. No. 1948, Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Divisional Court, May 15, 2007, S.N. Lederman, K.E. ...

The Court dismissed an application for judicial review of the decision of an arbitration panel under the Labour Relations Code, R.S.A. 2000, c. L-1. The Court found that the panel’s decision in respect of a teacher’s final salary payout was reasonable.

26. June 2007 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Arbitration Board – Labour law – Collective agreements – Pensions – Judicial review – Compliance with legislation – Standard of review – Reasonableness simpliciter Wild Rose School Division No. 66 v. Alberta Teachers’ Assn, [2007] A.J. No. 480, Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench, April 30, 2007, W.E. Wilson ...

The Court upheld the decision of an Arbitrator to make a success-based costs award in the face of a provision in the arbitration agreement that provided for the costs of the arbitration to be borne equally by the parties

26. June 2007 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Arbitration Board – Arbitrators – Right to award costs – Judicial review – Jurisdiction – Standard of review – Patent unreasonableness Metro Canada Logistics Inc. v. UWG Inc., [2007] O.J. No. 1501, Ontario Superior Court of Justice, April 23, 2007, H.T. Spiegel J. The parties had entered into a ...

The Court held that Section 49 of the Residential Tenancy Act, S.B.C. 2002, c. 78 could not be read so as to give landlords the discretion to terminate tenancies on the sole basis that they would be financially advantaged in having vacant possession. Where an Arbitrator makes a finding of fact that the renovation sought by the landlord did not require vacant possession, the rational and reasonable decision is that vacancy notices should not be granted in favour of the landlord.

22. May 2007 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Arbitration Board – Landlord and tenant – Residential tenancy agreements – Vacancy notices – Judicial review – Compliance with legislation – Statutory interpretation Allman v. Amacon Property Management Services Inc., [2007] B.C.J. No. 433, British Columbia Court of Appeal, March 6, 2007, Levine, Thackray and Lowry JJ.A. The landlord ...

The Court restored a sanction of dismissal against a municipal police officer who pleaded guilty to several criminal offences. The police officer’s criminal conduct was subject to separate sanctions provided for in the Cities and Towns Act and the Police Act. The majority of the Court held that the sanctions under the Police Act and the Cities and Towns Act overlapped and came into conflict. The Court held that in the case of conflict, the provisions in the Police Act should prevail over the provisions in the Cities and Towns Act as those provisions are more recent and more specific than those in the Cities and Towns Act.

22. May 2007 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Arbitration Board – Police – Disciplinary proceedings – Penalties and suspensions – Judicial review – Compliance with legislation – Statutory interpretation – Conflict of legislation Lévis (City) v. Fraternité des policiers de Lévis Inc., [2007] S.C.J. No. 14, Supreme Court of Canada, March 22, 2007, McLachlin C.J. and Bastarache, ...

The United Mexican States (“Mexico”) appealed the decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice upholding an award by a NAFTA arbitration tribunal which had found that Mexico had engaged in discriminatory conduct by granting tax rebates to domestic companies that were denied to a company engaged in a similar business owned by a U.S. citizen (“Karpa”). The Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal and held that the arbitration tribunal was entitled to a high degree of deference and Mexico had not shown any basis upon which to interfere with the arbitration award.

22. February 2005 0
Administrative law – Arbitration and award – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Arbitration Board – NAFTA – Tax rebates – Companies – Less favourable treatment – Discrimination – Judicial review – Procedural requirements and fairness – Disclosure United Mexican States v. Karpa, [2005] O.J. No. 16, Ontario Court of Appeal, January 11, 2005, D.H. Doherty, R.P. Armstrong ...

The Winnipeg Free Press (the “Free Press”) successfully challenged the decision of an arbitrator denying public access to the hearing of a grievance filed by officers of the Winnipeg police service (“WPS”). The court found that there was no evidentiary foundation for the arbitrator’s conclusion that “informant evidence” would form an integral part of the hearing and, therefore, the arbitrator had exceeded his jurisdiction by ordering that the hearing be held in camera.

23. November 2004 0
Administrative law – Police – Labour law – Arbitration – Hearings – Conduct of hearings – In camera hearings – Judicial review – Compliance with legislation – Procedural requirements and fairness – Standard of review – Reasonableness simpliciter – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Arbitration Board – Jurisdiction – Public interest Winnipeg Free Press v. Winnipeg (City), [2004] M.J. ...

The Ontario Nurses’ Association (the “Association”), representing a nurse who was terminated for innocent absenteeism due to disability (“Tilley”), successfully applied for judicial review of a decision of a Board of Arbitration which had held that the hospital’s failure to pay severance to Tilley did not violate s.15(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the “Charter”)

23. March 2004 0
Administrative law – Employment law – Termination of employment – Severance pay – Human rights complaints – Disability – Charter of Rights – Discrimination – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Arbitration Board – Judicial review – Standard of review – Correctness Ontario Nurses’ Assn. v. Mount Sinai Hospital, [2004] O.J. No. 162, Ontario Superior Court of Justice – Divisional ...