In Wellington v. Ontario, the Ontario Court of Appeal explored the issue of whether the families of victims of crime committed by police officers have the right to sue the Special Investigation Unit ("SIU") for negligent investigation. The court held that there is no private law duty of care owed by the SIU to the family of the victim and that any duty owed by the SIU was owed to the public as a whole, and that nothing in the relevant legislation or the relationship between the parties was sufficient to establish a private law duty of care.
The victim was a 15-year-old boy named Duane who was allegedly pursued by two police officers without legal justification. When Duane attempted to drive away, one of the officers, allegedly without legal justification, began shooting at Duane and fatally wounded him. Duane’s mother and sister sued the SIU for negligent investigation and sought general and punitive damages, claiming that the SIU did not conduct a competent investigation by failing to properly interview the officers, allowing the officers to keep their firearms, and closing the investigation before receiving the pathologist’s report.
In this case, the court held, relying on the Cooper-Anns Test, that it was plain and obvious that there was no prima facie duty of care. The court relied on precedent in concluding that a duty of care is excluded in claims of negligence against public authorities where there is no possibility of a duty of care outlined in the statute governing that public authority. Also, the case law does not support a duty of care by a police chief or SIU to the families of victims. Since the Police Services Act sets out the duty of the SIU as only a public duty, there is no possibility for the SIU to have a private law duty and be liable to the victim’s family in negligence.
April 8, 2011
Link to Decision
Pedram Moussavi
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