Law Society of New Brunswick v. Ryan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Law Society of New Brunswick v. Ryan

Supreme Court of Canada

Hearing: October 1, 2002
Judgment: April 3, 2003
Full case name: '
Citations: 2003 SCC 20
Docket No.: 28639
Ruling: Appeal allowed, order restored
Court membership

Chief Justice: Beverley McLachlin
Puisne Justices: Charles Gonthier, Frank Iacobucci, John C. Major, Michel Bastarache, Ian Binnie, Louise Arbour, Louis LeBel, Marie Deschamps

Reasons given

Unanimous reason by: Iacobucci J.

Law Society of New Brunswick v. Ryan, 2003 SCC 20 is a leading decision of the Supreme Court of Canada on judicial review for professional disciplinary bodies in Canadian administrative law. The Court determined that decisions of professional disciplinary committees are reviewed on a standard of reasonableness simpliciter.

Contents

[edit] Background

Michael Ryan was found lying to clients about the progress of their cases. Ryan was put to the Discipline Committee of the Law Society of New Brunswick. In his defence he argued that he was suffering from psychological and health problems which drove him to his actions. The committee disbarred him.

Ryan appealed to the New Brunswick Court of Appeal which ordered a new hearing with medical evidence. In the second hearing, Ryan was disbarred again. He appealed again to the Court of Appeal who set aside the committee's decision.

The Supreme Court was asked to consider the standard of review that should be applied by the courts to disciplinary bodies and consider whether Ryan's disbarment should be set aside.

[edit] Decision

Iacobucci, writing for the Court, allowed the appeal and restored the order for disbarment. The Court held that the proper standard of review is reasonableness simpliciter. On application of the standard, the order of disbarment was found to be reasonable.

On the issue of standard of review, Ryan had argued for a lower standard of review that is closer to correctness. Iacobucci rejected this view and emphasized that there can only three standards of review.[1]

A standard of reasonableness was based primarily on the expertise of the committee. It was composed of lawyers who understood the interest and were fulfilling the mandate of protecting the public.

Iacobucci was critical of the Court of Appeal's consideration of the accuracy and correctness of the committee's decisions. On a standard of reasonableness the reviewing court should not be re-weighing the evidence or re-trying the case. The standard inquiry involves asking whether "after a somewhat probing examination, can the reasons given, fwhen taken as a whole, support the decision?".[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ paras. 20, 24, 26
  2. ^ para. 47

[edit] See also

[edit] External links