The British Columbia Court of Appeal has granted Julie Berg, sister of Jeffrey Berg, deceased, leave to appeal the decision of public hearing adjudicator Brian C. Weddell, Q.C. Despite opposition from lawyers representing Police Complaint Commissioner Ryneveld and VPD Constable Bruce-Thomas, Mr. Justice Donald ordered that leave to appeal be granted on the following grounds:

1. that the adjudicator erred in law in admitting into evidence and relying on an agreed statement of facts that in fact had not been agreed to by the parties to the hearing;

2. that the adjudicator erred in law by conducting a hearing that violated the principles of natural justice and denied the complainant procedural fairness; and

3. that the adjudicator erred in law by finding that David Bruce-Thomas did not commit the disciplinary default of abuse of authority by using unnecessary force on the person of Jeffrey Michael Berg causing his death…

It is expected that Ms. Berg’s appeal will be heard by three justices of the Court of Appeal later this year, but a hearing date has not yet been set.

We have responded to BC Police Complaint Commissioner Dirk Ryneveld’s suggested Police Act reforms with a strong critique of the present public complaint system. In our view, there have to be fundamental changes in the way allegations of police misconduct are handled. We recommend considering the adoption of a Special Investigation Unit to investigate serious cases, as Ontario has done.

Right now, according to the people we frequently represent, the system is unfair, secretive and ineffecient. As we point out, the three major problems are that police investigate themselves, the investigative report is kept secret and public hearings, though rare, are patently unfair to the complainants.

Problems are particularily acute in Vancouver. In our experience, Vancouver Police internal investigators do not conduct bona fide investigations of their brethren. Their ‘investigations’ are invariably elaborate cover-ups, completely lacking in credibility.

Any person with the courage and patience to lodge a complaint about police conduct faces an interminable battle on a playing field that is far from level. The police have unlimited resources to hire lawyers to represent their interests, while complainants have to fend for themselves. There must be some form of legal aid to enable members of the public to have legal representation as well.

Read our entire submission to the Police Complaint Commisioner

The parents and sister of a man who died almost a year ago after being jolted by 50,000 volts of electricity by Vancouver police are frustrated by their inability to get any answers to their questions.

The Honourable Mr. Justice Romilly has been appointed as the case management judge. Lawyers for the plaintiffs and the defendants have appeared before him on December 10, 2004 and February 17, 2005 to discuss procedural issues relating to the plaintiffs’ application to have the proceeding certified as a class action.

The Court has directed that a preliminary legal relating to the constitutionality of the Vancouver Jail’s strip search policy be addressed before the certification hearing itself. Lawyers for both sides are scheduling a date for the hearing of that issue, expected to take place before the summer.

Is a tuition fee increase from $7,000 to $28,000 an “adjustment”? That question may be considered by the Court of Appeal later this year.

Six MBA students from the University of British Columbia have filed an appeal from a decision of the Supreme Court of British Columbia dismissing their case against UBC. The students allege that the university had breached a contract when it quadrupled MBA tuition fees from $7,000 to $28,000 after they had accepted offers of admission indicating that tuition fees would be the lower amount. The university maintains, and the lower court found, that fine print in the offer enabled UBC to raise fees to any level it chose, even after the students had accepted the offers and sent in their non-refundable deposits. The contractual clause reads: “Fees for the year are subject to adjustment and the University reserves the right to change fees without notice.”

It may take some time before the students’ case will be argued, however. Lawyers for UBC have filed a motion asking the Court of Appeal to stay the appeal until the students post about ten thousand dollars in security for the University’s costs. (UBC has an annual budget of about $2.1 billion). That motion is scheduled to be heard at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, February 9, 2005 in Vancouver. A date for the hearing of the appeal on its merits will be set later.

Read the decision of the B.C. Supreme Court under appeal