OTTAWA POLICE SERVICES BOARD

COMMISSION DE SERVICES POLICIERS D’OTTAWA

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La sécurité de notre communauté, un travail d’équipe

REPORT

RAPPORT

DATE 13 July 2011

TO/DEST. Executive Director, Ottawa Police Services Board

FROM/EXP. Board Solicitor

SUBJECT/OBJET LEGAL SERVICES STATUS REPORT - SECOND 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 second quarter of 2011.

Ottawa Police Service 2011 Second Quarter Costs of Legal Services
Item	Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
Internal Legal Costs	$70,525.00 $53,155.00
External Legal Costs	$ 2,522.73 $12,252.59
Legal Disbursements	$ 1,721.07 $ 891.40
2011 First Quarter	$74,768.80 $66,298.99

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 second quarter, $141,067.79 or 45% of the budget was spent. The adjacent chart sets out expenditures for the second quarter.


Type of Claim	Number
False Arrest	26
Seizure of Personal Property	0
Breach of Charter of Rights	5
Personal Injury	5
Excessive Force/Assault	15
Malicious Prosecution	2
Negligence/Negligent Investigation	5
Property Damage	0
Trespassing	1
Perjury	0
Other	9

2011 Litigation Claims

Seven Statements of Claim were received on behalf of the Police Services Board in the second quarter of 2011. Currently there are 68 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 64 claims are assigned to various in-house Legal Counsel. Nineteen 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

On April 18, 2011, the Superior Court of Ontario issued an Order declaring that a claimant in three actions against the Board is a “vexatious litigant”. As such the Court ordered that the claimant is “prohibited, either directly or indirectly, from instituting any further proceedings, in any Court in Ontario, except with leave of a Judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice”. Further, the Court ordered that all proceedings previously instituted by this claimant in any Court in Ontario not be continued, except with the leave of a judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

The claimant in question has brought an application to get the vexatious litigant status removed in one of the three outstanding claims.

Type of Matter	Number
Termination	4
Workplace Safety & Insurance Board	17
Ontario Human Rights Complaint	15
Other	1

2011 Labour and Employment Law Matters

In addition to the above civil litigation claims, the City Clerk and Solicitor Department is currently managing 37 labour and employment law matters on behalf of the Police Services Board, three of which were received in the second 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 35 matters assigned to in-house Legal Counsel.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

There were no significant issues to report from the second quarter of 2011.

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 third quarter report will be presented to the Board at its October 2011 meeting.

“Original signed by”

M. Rick O’Connor

Board Solicitor