Sabo v. Clement et al.,

• Jurisdiction: Yukon
• Judge: Newbury, Kirkpatrick and Tysoe, JJ.A.
• Neutral Citation: 2008 YKCA 6
• Citation: (2008), 259 B.C.A.C. 7 (YukCA),2008 YKCA 6,259 BCAC 7,(2008), 259 BCAC 7 (YukCA),259 B.C.A.C. 7
• Date: 03 June 2008
• Court: Court of Appeal (Yukon Territory)

Sabo v. Clement (2008), 259 B.C.A.C. 7 (YukCA);

    436 W.A.C. 7

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [2008] B.C.A.C. TBEd. SE.022

Daniel Sabo (appellant) v. Marcel Clement, Richard Herd, Gina Lecheminant, Cpl. Dan Parlee, Charles F. Roots, Bill Schneck, John Wood (respondents)

(07-YU597; 2008 YKCA 6)

Indexed As: Sabo v. Clement et al.

Yukon Court of Appeal

Newbury, Kirkpatrick and Tysoe, JJ.A.

June 3, 2008.

Summary:

A plaintiff applied to have the case management judge recuse himself on the grounds of bias or reasonable apprehension of bias. The case management judge refused (see 2007 YKSC 60). The plaintiff appealed.

The Yukon Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.

Courts - Topic 678

Judges - Disqualification - Recusal motion - Time for - A plaintiff commenced an action in February 2003 - Ten case management conferences ensued - In December 2006, almost two months after the last case management conference, the plaintiff asserted that the case management judge was biased - The plaintiff applied to have the judge recuse himself - The case management judge concluded that although the timing in a case management context could be more flexible, the plaintiff should not be permitted to raise matters that occurred prior to October 31, 2006 - The case management judge applied the relevant case law to the October 31, 2006 conference and dismissed the application - The plaintiff appealed - The Yukon Court of Appeal stated that the principle that an allegation of bias had to be advanced as soon as possible stemmed, at least in part, from the fact that once bias was found, at the very least, a cloud formed over the entire proceeding - Where bias was found on the part of a trial judge, all the decisions and orders made by him during the trial were generally void and of no effect - While the case management judge did not err in restricting his consideration to the October 31 conference, the court reviewed the transcripts of the earlier conferences and the parties' submissions concerning them and concluded that there was no basis for any allegation that a reasonable apprehension of bias arose from the conduct of the conferences and the parties' submissions concerning them - The court dismissed the appeal.

Courts - Topic 686

Judges - Disqualification - Bias - By trial judge - [See Courts - Topic 678 ].

Courts - Topic 691

Judges - Disqualification - Bias - Reasonable apprehension of bias - [See Courts - Topic 678 ].

Cases Noticed:

Authorson v. Canada (Attorney General) (2002), 161 O.A.C. 1; 32 C.P.C.(5th) 357 (Div. Ct.), refd to. [para. 2].

Committee for Justice and Liberty Foundation et al. v. National Energy Board et al., [1978] 1 S.C.R. 369; 9 N.R. 115, refd to. [para. 3].

Taylor Ventures Ltd. (Bankrupt) v. Taylor (2005), 214 B.C.A.C. 7; 353 W.A.C. 7 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 3].

R. v. Curragh Inc. et al., [1997] 1 S.C.R. 537; 209 N.R. 252; 159 N.S.R.(2d) 1; 468 A.P.R. 1, refd to. [para. 16].

Counsel:

Appellant, appeared in person;

A. McConville, for the Attorney General of Canada, representing the respondents.

This appeal was heard at Whitehorse, Yukon, on June 3, 2008, by Newbury, Kirkpatrick and Tysoe, JJ.A., of the Yukon Court of Appeal. Newbury, J.A., delivered the following judgment orally for the court on the same date.