Holt v. MacMaster and Buteau, (1993) 140 A.R. 235 (QB)

• Judge: Hunt, J.
• Court: Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta (Canada)
• Case Date: June 21, 1993
• Citations: (1993), 140 A.R. 235 (QB)

Holt v. MacMaster (1993), 140 A.R. 235 (QB)

MLB headnote and full text

Randy Holt (appellant) v. James Charles MacMaster and Wade Michael Buteau (respondents)

(Action No. 8901-17068)

Indexed As: Holt v. MacMaster and Buteau

Alberta Court of Queen's Bench

Judicial District of Calgary

Hunt, J.

June 21, 1993.

Summary:

The plaintiffs sued the defendant for assault and sought summary judgment on the issue of liability. The defendant who sub­mitted that the assault was in self defence, also admitted that he had been criminally convicted of assault arising from the same circumstances. A Master granted summary judgment. The defendant appealed.

The Alberta Court of Queen's Bench dis­missed the appeal.

Evidence - Topic 1297

Relevant facts - Relevance and materiality - Doing of human act - Civil cases - Prior criminal conviction - The plaintiffs sued the defendant for assault - The de­fendant, who submitted that he acted in self defence, was previously convicted of the alleged assault - A Master granted sum­mary judgment - The defendant appealed, arguing that a criminal convic­tion was not conclusive proof and that summary judg­ment was inappropriate - The Alberta Court of Queen's Bench dis­missed the appeal, holding that summary judgment was appropriate, where the issues in the civil and criminal proceedings were ident­ical and there was a lighter burden of proof in the civil action - The court stated that summary judgment might be inappro­priate where issues decided in a criminal case were not identical to the issues in subse­quent civil proceedings.

Practice - Topic 5702

Judgments and orders - Summary judg­ments - Jurisdiction or when available - [See Evidence - Topic 1297 ].

Cases Noticed:

Leeds et al. v. Alberta (Minister of Envi­ronment) et al. (1989), 98 A.R. 178 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 3].

Haluschak v. Stokowski (1990), 104 A.R. 10 (Q.B.), refd to. [para. 3].

Paclantic Financing Co. v. Moscow Narodny Bank, [1983] 1 W.L.R. 1063 (D.C.), affd. [1984] 1 W.L.R. 930 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 3].

Tally v. Klatt (1979), 17 A.R. 237; 10 Alta. L.R.(2d) 336 (C.A.), consd. [para. 6].

Latta v. London Life Insurance Co. (1977), 4 A.R. 358 (T.D.), consd. [para. 6].

Demeter v. British Pacific Life Insurance Co. (1983), 37 C.P.C. 277 (Ont. H.C.), consd. [para. 8].

Taylor Estate v. Baribeau and Jacob (1985), 12 O.A.C. 344; 4 C.P.C.(2d) 52 (Div. Ct.), consd. [para. 9].

Royal Bank of Canada v. McArthur et al. (1985), 10 O.A.C. 394; 3 C.P.C.(2d) 141 (Div. Ct.), consd. [para. 10].

Jorgensen v. News Media (Auckland) Ltd., [1969] N.Z.L.R. 961 (C.A.), consd. [para. 10].

Statutes Noticed:

Alberta Evidence Act, R.S.A. 1980, c. A-21, sect. 27 [para. 4].

Rules of Court (Alta.), rule 159(3) [para. 3].

Counsel:

K. Thomas, for the appellant;

B. Kathryn Chisholm, for the respondents.

This case was heard before Hunt, J., of the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench, Judicial District of Calgary, who delivered the fol­lowing judgment on June 21, 1993.