Charlotte County Barristers' Society Inc. v. New Brunswick, [2016] N.B.R.(2d) TBEd. JL.015 Renvoi temp.: [2016] N.B.R.(2d) TBEd. JL.015

• Judge: Richard, Quigg and French, JJ.A.
• Court: Court of Appeal (New Brunswick)
• Case Date: March 24, 2016
• Jurisdiction: New Brunswick
• Citations: [2016] N.B.R.(2d) TBEd. JL.015 Renvoi temp.: [2016] N.B.R.(2d) TBEd. JL.015;2016 NBCA 32

Barristers Soc. v. N.B., [2016] N.B.R.(2d) TBEd. JL.015

MLB being edited - MLB en voie d'édition

Currently being edited for N.B.R.(2d) - judgment temporarily in rough form - le résumé entête en est au stade préparatoire pour R.N.-B.(2e) - le jugement en est à sa forme préliminaire.

[French language version follows English language version - La version française vient à la suite de la version anglaise]

Temp. Cite: [2016] N.B.R.(2d) TBEd. JL.015

Renvoi temp.: [2016] N.B.R.(2d) TBEd. JL.015

Province of New Brunswick, as represented by the Attorney General and the Minister of Justice (appellant) v. Charlotte County Barristers' Society Inc. (respondent)

(100-15-CA; 2016 NBCA 32)

Indexed As: Charlotte County Barristers' Society Inc. v. New Brunswick

Répertorié: Charlotte County Barristers' Society Inc. v. New Brunswick

New Brunswick Court of Appeal

Richard, Quigg and French, JJ.A.

July 7, 2016.

Summary:

Résumé:

In the March 31, 2015 budget and budget speech, the Minister of Finance announced that it would be closing courthouses in St. Stephen and Grand Manan and merging their operations with the Saint John Law Courts. On October 7, 2015, the Charlotte County Barristers' Society filed an application for judicial review of the decision to close the courts pursuant to rule 69 of the Rules of Court. The Province of New Brunswick applied to have the application dismissed on the ground that it was not commenced within the three month time limit set out in rule 69.03.

The New Brunswick Court of Queen's Bench, Trial Division, in a decision reported (2015), 442 N.B.R.(2d) 375; 1155 A.P.R. 375, dismissed the application. The Province appealed.

The New Brunswick Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, set aside the decision below and dismissed the Barristers' Society's application for judicial review.

Administrative Law - Topic 3342

Judicial review - Practice - Limitation period - In the March 31, 2015 budget speech, the Minister of Finance announced that it would be closing courthouses in St. Stephen and Grand Manan - The announcement was repeated in a news release that same day - Neither the speech nor the news release identified a specific closure date - On October 7, 2015, the Charlotte County Barristers' Society filed an application for judicial review - The Province of New Brunswick moved to have the Society's application dismissed because it was not commenced within three months of the decision date (Rules of Court, rule 69.03) - The New Brunswick Court of Appeal held that the Province's decision to close the courthouses in question, as announced in the budget speech and in the resulting news release, was unambiguous, unconditional and unequivocal - As such, it met the criteria to trigger the commencement of the three-month time limit - The court rejected the argument that the limitation period started to run only once the date the facilities would actually be closed had been specified - Since it was conceded that there were no exceptional circumstances justifying an extension of the time limit, it followed that the application for judicial review was dismissed.

Administrative Law - Topic 5261

Judicial review - Certiorari - Limitation period - General - [See Administrative Law - Topic 3342 ].

Administrative Law - Topic 5408

Judicial review - Certiorari - Practice - Application - Time for - [See Administrative Law - Topic 3342 ].

Limitation of Actions - Topic 207

Practice - Limitation period - Commencement of - [See Administrative Law - Topic 3342 ].

Counsel:

Avocats:

Michael Leonard Hynes, for the appellant;

D. Andrew Rouse, for the respondent.

This appeal was heard on March 24, 2016, before Richard, Quigg and French, JJ.A., of the New Brunswick Court of Appeal. The following decision was delivered for the court by Richard, J.A., in both official languages, on July 7, 2016.