Scorpio Rising Software Inc. and Pederson v. Saskatchewan (Attorney General), Crawford and Lindskog

• Jurisdiction: Saskatchewan
• Judge: McLellan, J.
• Citation: (1986), 46 Sask.R. 230 (QB)
• Court: Court of Queen's Bench of Saskatchewan (Canada)
• Date: 17 March 1986

Scorpio Rising Software Inc. v. Sask. (1986), 46 Sask.R. 230 (QB)

MLB headnote and full text

In The Matter Of Part XXIII of the Criminal Code and judicial review pursuant to Part Fifty-Two of the Queen's Bench Rules;

And In The Matter Of an application to set aside or quash a warrant to search issued by William L. Crawford, Justice of the Peace, on January 27, 1986 authorized D.G. Lindskog to enter and search the business premises of Phantom Video.

Scorpio Rising Software Inc. and Pederson v. Attorney General for Saskatchewan, Crawford and Lindskog

(No. 1142 A.D. 1984)

Indexed As: Scorpio Rising Software Inc. and Pederson v. Saskatchewan (Attorney General), Crawford and Lindskog

Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench

Judicial Centre of Regina

McLellan, J.

March 17, 1986.

Summary:

A justice of the peace issued a search warrant authorizing police to enter and search the business premises of Phantom Video and seize a video film named "Wicked Sensations" and other obscene video films, etc. The owners of Phantom Video applied to quash the search warrant and also sought the return of all items seized, plus damages under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench allowed the application in part. The court quashed the search warrant and ordered that all items seized be returned to the applicants. The court, however, refused to award the applicants damages.

Civil Rights - Topic 1646

Property - Search and seizure - Unreasonable search and seizure defined - Police searched a video store and seized movie tapes under an invalid search warrant - The Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench held that a search and seizure on that basis was unreasonable, contrary to s. 8 of the Charter of Rights - See paragraphs 14 to 15.

Civil Rights - Topic 8375

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms - Denial of rights - Remedies - Damages - The Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench held that damages should not be awarded as a remedy to an accused whose right to be secure against unreasonable search and seizure was violated, unless the police acted with malice, bad faith, gross negligence or wilful disregard of the accused's rights - See paragraph 24.

Criminal Law - Topic 3097

Search warrants - Issue of - Contents of information - A justice issued a search warrant authorizing search of a video store for obscene videos - The information used to obtain the warrant did not describe the contents of the movie, except for its title and the words "hard core triple X film" - The Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench held that there were insufficient facts in the information from which the justice could judicially determine that the materials sought to be seized were obscene - See paragraphs 7 to 9.

Criminal Law - Topic 3098

Search warrants - Issue of - Contents of search warrant - A justice issued a search warrant authorizing search of a video store for obscene videos - The warrant authorized the police to search for such movies as the officer believed to be obscene and left to his discretion what fell within that category - The Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench held that the warrant did not describe the items to be seized with sufficient particularity - See paragraphs 10 to 13.

Criminal Law - Topic 3170

Special powers - Power of seizure - Detention or return of things seized - Police seized videos under an invalid search warrant in an unreasonable search and seizure contrary to the Charter - The Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench held that the owner was entitled to the return of the seized tapes - See paragraphs 16 to 18.

Cases Noticed:

Re Times Square Book Store and The Queen (1985), 10 O.A.C. 105; 21 C.C.C.(3d) 503 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 7].

R. v. Dombrowski (1985), 37 Sask.R. 259; 18 C.C.C.(3d) 164, refd to. [para. 15].

Re Weigel and the Queen, sub nom. R. v. Taylor; Ex rel. Weigel, R. v. Taylor (1984), 25 Sask.R. 145; 7 C.C.C.(3d) 81, appld. [para. 17].

Statutes Noticed:

Criminal Code of Canada, R.S.C. 1970, c. C-34, sect. 159(1)(a) [para. 7]; sect. 159(8) [para. 7]; sect. 443 [para. 4].

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 1982, sect. 8 [para. 14]; sect. 24(1) [para. 19].

Counsel:

R. Miller, for the applicants;

I. McKay, for the respondent, D.G. Lindskog;

D. Rayner, for the Attorney General for Saskatchewan.

This application was heard before McLellan, J., of the Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench, Judicial Centre of Regina, whose decision was delivered on March 17, 1986.