Supreme Court Cases

On May 6, 2014, the Inquest into the death of Douglas Minty commenced at the Simcoe County Council Chambers in Midhurst, Ontario. The Inquest inquired into the circumstances surrounding the shooting death of Mr. Minty by Cst. Seguin of the Ontario Provincial Police on June 22, 2009. The Inquest presided over by Dr. William Lucas heard from approximately 20 witnesses. The unrelated shooting deaths of Douglas Minty and Levi Schaeffer in 2009 led to a four-year legal battle waged by two families w...

Manish Odhavji was fatally shot by police officers. The Special Investigation Unit (“S.I.U.”) began an investigation. The police officers involved in the incident did not comply with S.I.U. requests that they remain segregated, that they attend interviews on the same day as the shooting, and that they provide shift notes, on-duty clothing, and blood samples in a timely manner. The Supreme Court found that the failure of a public officer to perform a statutory duty can constitute misf...

Hill v. Hamilton Wentworth Police is the seminal case on the tort of negligent investigation in Canada. The plaintiff was investigated by the police, arrested, tried, wrongfully convicted, and ultimately acquitted after spending more than 20 months in jail for a crime he did not commit. The Supreme Court of Canada found that the police are not immune from liability under the law of negligence and the tort of negligent investigation exists in Canada. Police officers owe a duty of care to suspect...

Julian Falconer of Falconers LLP represented the Schaeffer and Minty families in an Application against police officers involved in the death of their family members. The Application sought judicial interpretation of various provisions of the Police Services Act to determine whether the conduct of the involved police officers was consistent with the Police Services Act and the regulations passed pursuant to the Act. The Notice of Appeal from the ruling of the Divisional Court was filed with the ...

Julian Falconer and Julian Roy, of Falconers LLP, represented Wayne Penner, who was arrested for causing a disturbance during a trial. He filed a police complaint with the Police Services Board, alleging police misconduct, unlawful arrest and use of unnecessary force. The hearing officer found that the arrest was lawful and no unnecessary force was used. The Civilian Commission on Police Services overturned the hearing officer’s decision because he had failed to determine whether the arre...

Lawyers Julian Falconer, Asha James, and Akosua Matthews of Falconers LLP represented Angel Sue Larkman.  Ms. Larkman sought to set aside an Order in Council, dated December 1952, that purported to “voluntarily enfranchise” Ms. Larkman’s grandmother, Laura Flood. Now repealed, enfranchisement was the statutory regime aimed at assimilating Aboriginal peoples. Ms. Larkman argued that her grandmother’s enfranchisement was obtained by way of fraud as she did not, in fact, apply to have he...

Clifford Kokopenace, a member of the Grassy Narrows First Nation, was convicted of manslaughter on June 17, 2008, after a jury trial held in Kenora, Ontario. Prior to sentencing, Mr. Kokopenace’s trial lawyer learned that First Nation residents were overwhelmingly underrepresented on the Kenora jury roll.  This information came to light in an affidavit filed by Falconers LLP on behalf of Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) at the Inquest into the Death of Reggie Bushie. The affidavit, sworn by the Ac...