OTTAWA POLICE SERVICES BOARD

COMMISSION DE SERVICES POLICIERS D’OTTAWA

Working together for a safer community

La sécurité de notre communauté, un travail d’équipe

MEMORANDUM

NOTE DE SERVICE

DATE 20 April 2011

TO/DEST. Executive Director, Ottawa Police Services Board

FROM/EXP. Board Solicitor

SUBJECT/OBJET LEGAL SERVICES STATUS REPORT: FIRST QUARTER 2011

RECOMMENDATION

That the Ottawa Police Services Board receive this report for information.

BACKGROUND

The City Clerk and Solicitor Department is a full-service, in-house law practice that provides a broad range of services to the Police Services Board in the areas of civil litigation, labour and employment law, procedural and general legal advice, corporate/commercial/development and environmental law. The Department’s objective is to achieve this through the most cost-effective and efficient combination of both in-house and external lawyers. In this latter regard, the Department has a Strategic Standing Offer (SSO) with two law firms for the provision of external legal services. The new SSO was negotiated for the period 2011-2014 and provides for very favourable, blended hourly rates set for the duration of the four-year term.

Pursuant to Section 6.1 of Board Policy #GA-8 – Legal Services, the Board Solicitor shall submit a report to the Board on a quarterly basis that includes statistical information and concise analysis of trends on:

positive and negative variances against the approved budget;
all claims or actions filed against the Board including how many have been filed, how many are outstanding, how many have been settled, the nature of them (categorized by type), and the cost of settlements;
the number, cost and outcome of all appeals and applications for judicial review;
any issues of significance the Board should be advised of.

In compliance with Section 6.1, this report provides the requested information with respect to the first quarter of 2011.

Ottawa Police Service 2011 First Quarter Costs of Legal Services
Item	Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
Internal Legal Costs	$70,525.00
External Legal Costs	$ 2,522.73
Legal Disbursements	$ 1,721.07
2011 First Quarter	$74,768.80

DISCUSSION

2011 Budget

The Police Services Board has allocated $313,900 for the provision of legal services in 2011 – being a $6,100 reduction from the budget allocated for previous years. At the completion of the first quarter, $74,768.80 or 23.8% of the budget was spent. The adjacent chart sets out expenditures for the first quarter.


Type of Claim	Number
False Arrest	24
Seizure of Personal Property	1
Breach of Charter of Rights	3
Personal Injury	5
Excessive Force/Assault	16
Malicious Prosecution	3
Negligence/Negligent Investigation	5
Property Damage	1
Trespassing	1
Perjury	1
Other	10

2011 Litigation Claims

Nine Statements of Claim were received on behalf of the Police Services Board in the first quarter of 2011. Currently there are 70 outstanding claims/notices of claim against the Board. Four of those claims are with external legal counsel as directed by the Board’s insurer or due to the requirement for a specialized legal expertise. The remaining 66 claims are assigned to various in-house Legal Counsel. Seventeen claims are at the mediation stage and/or are awaiting Settlement Conference dates. The adjacent list sets out the number of current litigated claims by category or type.

It should be noted that as Counsel for the Police Services Board, the City Clerk and Solicitor Department accepts and encourages the sending of demand letters in advance of formal Statements of Claim being issued. This proactive approach has numerous benefits if liability is indicated after investigation of the claim. For example, liability for legal fees can be greatly reduced and it can be much easier to negotiate a confidentiality agreement concerning the settlement where no formal Statement of Claim has been issued.

2011 Appeals or Judicial Reviews

As indicated in the 2010 quarterly reports, in the case of one of the above claims, which was dismissed at trial and in the Ontario Court of Appeal, the Plaintiff filed a Motion for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. The Supreme Court dismissed the Leave application.

Type of Matter	Number
Termination	3
Workplace Safety & Insurance Board	16
Ontario Human Rights Complaint	12

2011 Labour and Employment Law Matters

In addition to the above civil litigation claims, the City Clerk and Solicitor Department is currently managing 31 labour and employment law matters on behalf of the Police Services Board, one of which was received in the first quarter of 2011. The adjacent list sets out the number of current labour and employment law matters by category or type. Two of the labour and employment law matters have been outsourced, with the remaining 29 matters assigned to in-house Legal Counsel.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

Recent events in Thunder Bay may prove to be one of the first tests of the confidentiality provisions in the Code of Conduct for police service board members, which came into effect in 1997. According to media reports, the Chief of the Thunder Bay Police Service has asked the Ontario Civilian Police Commission to investigate the Mayor of Thunder Bay, Keith Hobbs, over an alleged release of confidential information provided during an in camera meeting of the Police Services Board. Under the Police Services Act, the Commission has the authority to inquire into and report on the conduct or the performance of duties of a member of a police services board (subsection 25(1)(a)) and, after holding a hearing, may dismiss or suspend the member if he or she is found guilty.

Notwithstanding the broad authority given to the Commission by the legislation, it is interesting to note that the Police Services Act does not provide for a complaint against a board member by a chief of police. Though it may initiate an investigation on its own, the Commission has, to date, declined to comment on the matter or indicate whether an investigation will be forthcoming. The Mayor of Thunder Bay, for his part, has stepped down from the Board, in the interim, and has also alleged that the claims made by the Chief of Police are based on private communications that were illegally intercepted.

Given the rarity of Commission investigations of misconduct by police services board members, the City Clerk and Solicitor will provide an update on this matter in a future report, should there be further developments.

CONSULTATION

As this report was administrative in nature, consultation was not required.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT

As presented in this report.

CONCLUSION

It is anticipated that the second quarter report will be presented to the Board at its July 2011 meeting.

“Original signed by”

M. Rick O’Connor

Board Solicitor