Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan

Extinguishing the ICBC dumpster fire fairly

January 31, 2020 01:00 - 22 minutes - 10.2 MB

On the show this week: ICBC. The government-owned insurance company has run into financial difficulty as a result of both how the company has been operated, and political decisions to take money that it had been saved for the purpose of paying claims out of the company in order to balance the provincial budget. Currently, drivers who are at fault for an accident are responsible for it. In some circumstances, such as where a driver is convicted of impaired driving, dangerous driving, or fai...

No appeal to the SCC over plastic bags and misleading statements by politicians concerning the Coastal GasLink Pipeline injunction

January 23, 2020 23:00 - 23 minutes - 16.3 MB

Topics discussed on the show this week include the Supreme Court of Canada refusing an application by the City of Victoria for leave to appeal a decision by the BC Court of Appeal that the city lacked jurisdiction to ban plastic bags. In addition, various politicians have mischaracterized the nature of an interim injunction prohibiting blockades, and other self-help remedies, by individuals opposed to the construction of a natural gas pipeline. A federal Green Party member of parliament su...

Suing a municipality for poor snow clearing and a finding of "Family Violence" against a father for opposing hormone treatment for child with gender dysphoria overturned

January 16, 2020 21:00 - 21 minutes - 15.1 MB

Two new British Columbia Court of Appeal decisions are discussed on the show this week. When can you sue a municipality for an injury caused by poorly cleared snow? The Court of Appeal provided some clarity in a recent case against the City of Nelson. The plaintiff suffered a serious leg injury after stepping into a snowbank trying to get from an angled parking spot to the sidewalk. While a municipality is not liable for injuries caused by policy decisions, such as whether to clear the ...

Distracted driving confusion, limits on liability for airlines, and the demonstration of smudging in school is permitted

January 10, 2020 01:00 - 22 minutes - 15.5 MB

The Motor Vehicle Act distracted driving provisions are in need of an update in order to both provide clarity, and to address technological changes that have taken place over the past ten years. As a result of the outdated, and confusing, legislative scheme even police officers who are charged with enforcing the scheme are having difficulty interpreting the provisions. Recent advice, offered by a senior police officer, concerning when and how electronic devices can be used was, unfortunat...

Jail for editing the DNA of embryos to prevent HIV and class actions against Shaw and the University of Victoria

January 03, 2020 00:00 - 21 minutes - 15.1 MB

Three Chinese scientists were sentenced to jail for editing the genes of three fetuses in an attempt to provide immunity from HIV. The scientist used CRISPR in an attempt to disable the gene that allows the HIV virus to enter a cell. The fathers of the children, who appear to be healthy, had HIV. Their mothers did not. The three scientists announced what they had done at a 2018 conference in Hong Kong and, shortly thereafter, disappeared. They had been in Chinese custody and were recentl...

Canadian citizenship for the son of Russian Spies, US Super Bowl Commercials in Canada and a class action against Ticketmaster

December 20, 2019 22:00 - 22 minutes - 15.3 MB

The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that a man, born in Canada, to parents who were undercover Russian spies, is a Canadian citizen. This decision, and two others, including a finding that the CRTC does not have the power to require US Super Bowl ads to be shown in Canada, formed the basis of an effort to clarify how courts should deal with the review of administrative decisions. There are two standards of review when courts are asked to review administrative decisions. These standards ...

Use of human reproductive material after death, procedural unfairness in transferring a transgender female inmate to a jail for men, and a note rather than a will

December 12, 2019 23:00 - 22 minutes - 15.5 MB

The first topic on the show: Sperm, recovered from a man shortly after his death, pursuant to an interim court order, will not be provided to the man’s wife because the man had not provided his written consent before he died. The Assisted Human Reproduction Act requires written consent for the “removal of human reproductive material” from a donor’s body, after death, for the purpose of creating an embryo. In this case, the sperm had been collected and stored, pursuant to an emergency, af...

$20,000 award for an unlawful arrest for not holding a handrail, what can breach your ICBC coverage, and Law Society rules for lawyers making public statements

December 06, 2019 01:00 - 23 minutes - 16 MB

Police officers in Montreal believed that a warning picture on an escalator, suggesting that people hold the handrail, made this a legal requirement. The police officers ordered a woman to hold onto the handrail and, when she refused, they arrested her, placed her in handcuffs, searched her purse, and issued her a ticket for not holding onto the handrail. After being acquitted of the non-existent offence of failing to hold onto the handrail, the woman sued the police officers. The woman w...

Three parents on birth registration, Sentencing where facts are disputed, and a $600,000 judgement when house purchase not completed

November 29, 2019 00:00 - 25 minutes - 17.8 MB

What’s required for three people to be listed as parents on birth certificates, for children of a same-sex couple, who were conceived with sperm from a friend, who also wished to participate in raising the children? The British Columbia Family Law Act attempts to contemplate a wide range of modern scenarios, involving surrogates and other assisted reproduction. Unfortunately, not every eventuality can be anticipated, as demonstrated by a recent court case. Two women, in a long term commit...

Religious oaths in court, a poisoned blueberry farm, and Police Act staffing requirements

November 22, 2019 00:00 - 27 minutes - 18.8 MB

In British Columbia witnesses who are testifying in court are required to choose between swearing a religious oath, or making an affirmation, to tell the truth. Children under 14 are only asked to promise to tell the truth. The origin of oaths, to tell the truth, was a belief that divine retribution would visit those who lied under oath. While witnesses are not told they have the option to swear an oath on something other than a bible, that is permitted. Alberta recently announced tha...

Education removed from list of essential services prior to the Saanich school strike, funding for poverty law clinics, and litigation over law school naming rights

November 14, 2019 20:00 - 26 minutes - 18 MB

With Saanich schools closed for a third week as a result of a strike, 2019 amendments to the Labour Relations Code are discussed. These amendments removed a specific provision that declared “the provision of educational programs for students and eligible children under the School Act” to be an essential service. This change was an example of the labour relations changes made each time the NDP is elected, or defeated, in British Columbia. This same legislation, Bill 30, would also have in...

Saanich School Strike and the Labour Relations Code, Limitation Periods for Criminal Cases, and Credit Union Class Action for Overdraft Fees

November 07, 2019 23:00 - 27 minutes - 18.6 MB

After almost two weeks Saanich schools are still closed as a result of a strike by support staff. Support staff are seeking a wage increase to match other school districts. The support staff ended up with lower salaries as a result of past contracts that provided for greater benefits, instead of larger salary increases. The Saanich School District has offered all of the money they are permitted to pursuant to a provincial bargaining mandate. This amounts to an overall 6% increase in pay o...

Saanich School Strike and the Labour Relations Code, Limitation Periods for Criminal Cases, and Credit Union Class Action for Overdraft Fees

November 07, 2019 23:00 - 27 minutes - 18.6 MB

After almost two weeks Saanich schools are still closed as a result of a strike by support staff. Support staff are seeking a wage increase to match other school districts. The support staff ended up with lower salaries as a result of past contracts that provided for greater benefits, instead of larger salary increases. The Saanich School District has offered all of the money they are permitted to pursuant to a provincial bargaining mandate. This amounts to an overall 6% increase in pay o...

Foreign Buyers' Tax discrimination and unconstitutional limits on experts in ICBC cases

October 31, 2019 22:00 - 25 minutes - 17.9 MB

Canada, and British Columbia, have a very unfortunate history of racist legislation intended to restrict Chinese immigration. This includes the Chinese Immigration Act (1885), which imposed a head tax, the Opium Act (1908) which was passed following anti-Asian riots in 1907 that involved destruction in Vancouver’s Chinatown as well as Japanese neighbourhoods, and the Chinese Immigration Act (1923) which banned new Chinese immigration all together. It’s in this historical context that 2016 ...

Publication Bans, Judicial Recounts, Extradition, and Distracted Driving by an Interlock Device

October 24, 2019 23:00 - 27 minutes - 19.1 MB

A new BC Supreme Court policy concerning bans on publication, and closed courtrooms, permits automatic notification of applications for the media as well as a web site listing publication bans, to make it easier to determine if there is a publication ban is in place. Judicial Recounts: what is required for an automatic, or discretionary, judicial recount, and how the recount proceeds when one is required. Issues on a recount include whether it’s possible to determine the intention of the vo...

Diplomatic Immunity, Parking Immunity, and Legal Aid Funding

October 17, 2019 23:00 - 27 minutes - 18.9 MB

Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan Diplomatic Immunity – The wife of a US diplomat killed a British teenager in a car accident but was able to avoid prosecution and leave the UK as a result of diplomatic immunity. Topics discussed include the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and how this is implemented in Canada. Other related issued include diplomats not having to pay parking tickets, how diplomats suspected of impaired driving are dealt with in Canada, and immunity from havi...

An illegal arrest of a protester, a judge shooting himself in a courtroom, and a vacation rental injunction

October 11, 2019 00:00 - 22 minutes - 15.6 MB

Legally Speaking with Victoria Lawyer Michael Mulligan on CFAX 1070. A new Supreme Court of Canada case, Fleming v. Ontario, concluded that the police did not have the authority to arrest a protester who was carrying a Canadian flag and walking down the road, in order to avert a possible, future, disruption. The police officers and the province of Ontario claimed that the police were authorized to arrest the man pursuant to the ancillary powers doctrine to “arrest someone who is acting lawf...

Federal Offender Security Clarification overrides, a Death Midwife, and NCRMD findings

October 03, 2019 22:00 - 23 minutes - 15.9 MB

Legally Speaking with Victoria Lawyer Michael Mulligan on CFAX 1070 Issues discussed include overrides of federal prisoner security classifications which result in inmates classified as medium security, being transferred to minimum security institutions. This was an issue recently as a result of two inmates escaping from the William Head Institution, which is a minimum-security facility, despite having been classified as medium security risks. One of the inmates had been convicted of escapi...

Jury deliberations and Special Costs in a disability income case

September 26, 2019 22:00 - 25 minutes - 17.7 MB

Legally Speaking with Victoria Lawyer Michael Mulligan on CFAX 1070 Issues discussed include jury deliberations, sequestration, the fact that the substance of jury deliberations are secret in Canada, what information is included in a charge to the jury, information not provided to the jury, including the possible sentence if there is a conviction, and how judges deal with jury questions or cases where a jury is unable to arrive at a unanimous verdict. Also discussed is a recent test case f...

$2 million in cash to be returned, another Trans Mountain Pipeline appeal, and why not to be your own lawyer

September 19, 2019 18:00 - 26 minutes - 18.4 MB

The British Columbia Director of Civil Forfeiture ordered to return $2 million in cash that was seized as part of the largest money-laundering case in BC history, due to misconduct at an ex parte hearing. The decision can be found here and the reasons on the original ex parte hearing here. "The Court must take the misconduct very seriously, because misleading statements in an ex parte hearing undermine the integrity of the process, and may even obliterate it. Misleading statements are of ...

CFAX 60th Anniversary Special

September 13, 2019 01:00 - 20 minutes - 13.9 MB

CFAX 1070 60th Anniversary Special - retrospective on 60 years of CFAX 1070 in Victoria, BC and themes from past episodes including legal aid funding and the importance of meaningful explanations of legal issues and decisions. Legally Speaking is live in CFAX 1070 every Thursday at 10:30. Michael Mulligan is a lawyer at Mulligan Defence Lawyers in Victoria, BC, Canada.

Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan

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