The Appellant Hearing Aid Practitioner, Gedge, unsuccessfully appealed the decision of the Respondent Board, which penalized him for some of his conduct as a hearing aid practitioner

25. August 2009 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Hearing Aid Practitioners Board – Hearing Aid Practitioners – Disciplinary proceedings – Penalties and Suspensions – Competence – Public interest – Judicial review – Self-governing professions – Jurisdiction – Compliance with legislation – Procedural requirements and fairness – Bias Gedge v. Hearing Aid Practitioners Board, [2009] N.J. ...

The Appellant Rault successfully appealed the penalty decision made by the Respondent Law Society’s Discipline Committee. The Committee erred in failing to adequately consider the joint submission on penalty and the Court of Appeal substituted the penalty suggested in the joint submission.

25. August 2009 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Law Societies – Barristers and solicitors – Disciplinary proceedings – Penalties and Suspensions – Judicial review – Self-governing professions – Powers of Disciplinary Committee – Joint submissions Rault v. Law Society of Saskatchewan, [2009] S.J. No. 436, Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, July 15, 2009, G.R. Jackson, G.A. ...

The appeal by a geoscientist (“Salway”) from a decision dismissing his application for judicial review of a Stipulated Order under which he admitted unprofessional conduct and agreed to a disciplinary regime other than the one provided for in the Engineers and Scientists Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 116 was allowed where the Court found that the Association had no jurisdiction to adopt the Stipulated Order procedure

25. August 2009 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Association of Professional Engineers – Engineers – Governance – Functions of a self-governing body – Disciplinary proceedings – Professional misconduct / conduct unbecoming – Judicial review – Jurisdiction of Association – Compliance with legislation Salway v. Assn. of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia, [2009] B.C.J. ...

The Court dismissed the Appellant Architect’s appeal of a decision made by a discipline committee of the Respondent Ontario Association of Architects which found him guilty of two counts of professional misconduct by affixing a seal or permitting a seal to be affixed to a design not prepared under the personal supervision and direction of a member/holder of a temporary licence. Where the issue is integrity, there is no equivalent functional need for peer review or expert evidence as there would be for disputes concerning the standard of practice. The Discipline Committee did not err in law in concluding that the conduct of the member/holder was dishonourable and unprofessional without receiving peer or expert opinion on the issue. As well, there was no compelling reason to interfere with the Discipline Committee’s decision on penalty and costs.

28. July 2009 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Association of Architects – Disciplinary proceedings – Supervision of trainee – Professional misconduct – Penalties and suspensions – Judicial review – Compliance with legislation – Jurisdiction – Evidence – Standard of review – Reasonableness simpliciter Cheung v. Ontario Assn. of Architects, [2009] O.J. No. 2230, Ontario Superior ...

The application by a cosmetic surgeon (“Yazdanfar”) for judicial review of an Interim Order of the Executive Committee of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario was dismissed where the Court found there was an ample factual foundation for the Committee to significantly limit Yazdanfar’s performance of liposuction and breast augmentation surgery pending a Disciplinary Hearing

28. July 2009 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – College of Physicians and Surgeons – Physicians and Surgeons – Investigations – Failure to produce records – Statutory provisions – Disciplinary proceedings – Competence – Penalties and suspensions – Public interest – Judicial review – Compliance with legislation – Evidence – Standard of review – Reasonableness simpliciter ...

The appeal by the Law Society of Upper Canada from a decision setting aside a finding of professional misconduct and the imposition of disbarment of a lawyer (“Igbinosun”) was dismissed where the Court found that the Hearing Panel had denied Igbinosun natural justice by refusing to adjourn proceedings to permit counsel to attend

28. July 2009 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Law Societies – Barristers and solicitors – Disciplinary proceedings – Professional misconduct / conduct unbecoming – Penalties and suspensions – Hearings – Conduct of hearings – Judicial review – Procedural requirements and fairness – Natural justice – Delay – Stay of proceedings Igbinosun v. Law Society of ...

The Court allowed an appeal of a decision of a chambers judge who had struck out the sanctions imposed by the Appellant Institute against the Respondent, an appraiser. The Court found that the chambers judge erred in his finding that the Institute had failed to deal fairly with the Respondent, with respect to its failure to provide the Respondent a hearing at the investigation stage, the participation of the investigator in charge of the file in the disciplinary proceedings, and the fact that the adjudicating Committee received the investigating committee’s report 30 days before it received the Respondent’s brief.

23. June 2009 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Real estate appraisal – Real estate appraisers – Disciplinary proceedings – Competence – Penalties and suspensions – Hearings – Fairness; Judicial review – Procedural requirements and fairness Egerton v. Appraisal Institute of Canada, [2009] O.J. No. 1880, 2009 ONCA 390, Ontario Court of Appeal, May 11, 2009, ...

The Court dismissed an appeal of a decision of the Respondent College, which had found the Appellant guilty of unprofessional conduct in connection with billing irregularities. The Court held that the College’s findings and penalty were not unreasonable.

23. June 2009 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – College of Optometrists – Optometrists – Disciplinary proceedings – Billing matters – Penalties and suspensions – Judicial review – Compliance with legislation – Standard of review – Reasonableness simpliciter – Costs Bishop v. Alberta College of Optometrists, [2009] A.J. No. 486, 2009 ABCA 175, Alberta Court of ...

Disciplinary decisions of the British Columbia Law Society are reviewed on a standard of reasonableness. Where a lawyer cannot assemble admissible evidence to make a plausible case of incompetency of another lawyer, then he should not pursue the issue. To press an allegation of substance abuse solely on the basis of opinion, rumour, insinuation, and speculation is to take the matter to the level of professional misconduct. Defence of absolute privilege and fair comment, which would apply in a defamation suit, does not apply in professional disciplinary proceedings.

26. May 2009 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Law Societies – Barristers and solicitors – Disciplinary proceedings – Competence – Professional misconduct – Absolute privilege – Defamation – Judicial review – Standard of review – Reasonableness simpliciter – Evidence Goldberg v. Law Society of British Columbia, [2009] B.C.J. No. 657, British Columbia Court of Appeal, ...

The Court allowed an Appeal of a decision of the Respondent Association which had found the Appellant guilty of unprofessional conduct on account of the Appellant’s failure to respond to client inquiries. The Court found that the Respondent had erred in law in finding that the Appellant’s actions amounted to unprofessional conduct – the authorities established that any omission to act was required to go beyond mere negligence to be considered unprofessional conduct.

28. April 2009 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Association of Professional Engineers – Engineers – Disciplinary proceedings – Professional misconduct – Judicial review – Standard of review – Reasonableness simpliciter – Evidence Salway v. Assn. of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia, [2009] B.C.J. No. 384, British Columbia Supreme Court, March 2, 2009, R.J. ...