Summary

Keywords

Civil procedure – Application to strike statement of claim – Failure to disclose reasonable cause of action – Frivolous and vexatious claims – Whether constitutionally protected rights to privacy were quashed by the judgment of the Court of Appeal.

Summary

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

Keith Peterson commenced an action against the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board, alleging an abuse of public office on the basis that his Workers’ Compensation Board file was wrongly placed on the court record.

On the Board’s motion to strike Mr. Peterson’s statement of claim, the Court of Queen’s Bench for Saskatchewan was satisfied the claim did not disclose any reasonable cause of action and therefore had no reasonable prospect of success. The court found there was nothing in the pleadings that could establish there was any deliberate or unlawful conduct on the part of the Board. The court granted the motion on that basis and dismissed the claim in its entirety, describing the claim as frivolous and vexatious. Mr. Peterson brought an appeal from that order and the Board brought an application to quash the appeal.

The Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan quashed the appeal, finding the claim was Mr. Peterson’s third attempt to litigate and appeal the same matter. The Court of Appeal held that the appeal was frivolous, vexatious, without merit and an abuse of the process of the Court and, in such circumstances, it was appropriate to exercise its authority to quash the appeal.

Lower Court Rulings