Basaraba v. Manitoba, (2008) 227 Man.R.(2d) 87 (QBM)

• Court: Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba (Canada)
• Case Date: April 03, 2008
• Jurisdiction: Manitoba
• Citations: (2008), 227 Man.R.(2d) 87 (QBM);2008 MBQB 97

Basaraba v. Man. (2008), 227 Man.R.(2d) 87 (QBM)

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [2008] Man.R.(2d) TBEd. AP.020

Timothy Mark Basaraba (applicant) v. The Government of Manitoba (respondent)

(CI 07-02-01957; 2008 MBQB 97)

Indexed As: Basaraba v. Manitoba

Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench

Brandon Centre

Harrison, Master

April 3, 2008.

Summary:

Basaraba applied for an order requiring the government of Manitoba to unseal his medical record under the Mental Health Act. The Crown moved under Queen's Bench Rule 25.11(d) to dismiss the application as disclosing no reasonable cause of action.

A Master of the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench granted the Crown's motion.

Hospitals - Topic 5105

Mental hospitals and psychiatric wards - Clinical records - Disclosure - [See Practice - Topic 2230 ].

Practice - Topic 2230

Pleadings - Striking out pleadings - Grounds - Failure to disclose a cause of action or defence - Basaraba applied for an order requiring the government of Manitoba to unseal his medical record under the Mental Health Act - Basaraba acknowledged that he had not "engaged" the statutory procedures for accessing health records or information, but asked the court to exercise its inherent jurisdiction - The Crown moved under Queen's Bench Rule 25.11(d) to dismiss the application as disclosing no reasonable cause of action - A Master of the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench granted the Crown's motion - Regarding the "reasonableness" of a cause of action, if a factual situation appropriately founded a cause of action, the reasonableness was inherent - Here, both the Mental Health Act and the Personal Health Information Act provided comprehensive, orderly schemes under which persons could request records or information - Basaraba had refused to use those procedures, but he had criticized neither the legislation nor its implementation - He was seeking an order without a statutory or common law foundation - As such, there was no "reasonable cause of action" demonstrated by the application - Even accepting the facts as presented by Basaraba would not justify a court order or remedy.

Words and Phrases

Reasonable - A Master of the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench discussed the meaning of the word "reasonable" as found in Queen's Bench Rule 25.11(d) of the Rules of Court (Man.) - See paragraphs 10 to 12.

Cases Noticed:

Letang v. Cooper, [1964] 2 All E.R. 929 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 10].

Peru (Republic) v. Peruvian Guano Co. (1887), 36 Ch. D. 489, refd to. [para. 11].

M.A.F. et al. v. Child and Family Services of Winnipeg Southeast et al., [2000] 10 W.W.R. 47; 147 Man.R.(2d) 192; 2000 MBQB 87 (Fam. Div.), refd to. [para. 13].

Dumont et al. v. Canada (Attorney General) and Manitoba (Attorney General), [1990] 1 S.C.R. 279; 105 N.R. 228; 65 Man.R.(2d) 182, refd to. [para. 13].

Thwaites v. Health Sciences Centre, [1988] 3 W.W.R. 217; 51 Man.R.(2d) 196 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 15].

Bobbie v. Health Sciences Centre et al., [1989] 2 W.W.R. 153; 56 Man.R.(2d) 208 (Q.B.), refd to. [para. 15].

Corbin v. Manitoba et al. (1996), 108 Man.R.(2d) 248 (Q.B.), refd to. [para. 19].

Stevens v. Provincial Remand Centre et al. (1995), 104 Man.R.(2d) 226 (Q.B. Master), refd to. [para. 20].

Statutes Noticed:

Rules of Court (Man.), Queen's Bench Rules, rule 25.11(d) [para. 6].

Counsel:

T.M. Basaraba, appeared in person;

Sean D. Boyd, for the respondent.

This motion was heard by Harrison, Master, of the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench, Brandon Centre, who delivered the following reasons for judgment on April 3, 2008.