OTTAWA POLICE SERVICES BOARD

COMMISSION DE SERVICES POLICIERS D’OTTAWA

The Trusted Leader in Policing

Le chef de file de confiance dans la police

REPORT

RAPPORT

DATE 28 October 2013

TO/DEST. Executive Director, Ottawa Police Services Board

FROM/EXP. Board Solicitor

SUBJECT/OBJET LEGAL SERVICES STATUS REPORT: THIRD QUARTER 2013

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 third quarter of 2013.

Ottawa Police Service 2013 Third Quarter Costs of Legal Services
Item	Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
Internal Costs	$74,876 $ 67,200 $86,875
External Costs	$ 2,902 $ 84,953 $78,286
Disbursements	$ 4,471 $ 4,625 $ 3,579
2013 Total	$82,249 $156,778 $168,740

DISCUSSION

2013 Budget

The Police Services Board has allocated $328,900 for the provision of legal services in 2013 – an increase of $15K over 2012. At the completion of the third quarter $407,767 or approximately 124% of the budget was spent. The adjacent chart sets out expenditures for the entire year to date (rounded out for space purposes). The costs reflect the significant staff time devoted to representing the Board, both at trial as well as at mediations, discoveries and settlement conferences. A significant portion of the legal expenditures for 2013 can be attributed to civil litigation, notably the preparation for a scheduled two-week trial that was ultimately concluded by way of a confidential settlement immediately prior to the commencement of the hearing.


Type of Claim	Number
False Arrest	27
Seizure of Personal Property	0
Breach of Charter of Rights	4
Personal Injury	3
Excessive Force/Assault	12
Malicious Prosecution	2
Negligence/Negligent Investigation	6
Vehicle/Property Damage	0
Trespassing	1
Perjury	0
Other	10
Motor Vehicle Accident	6

2013 Litigation Claims

Two Statements of Claim were received on behalf of the Police Services Board in the third quarter of 2013. Currently there are 71 outstanding claims/notices of claim against the Board. Eight 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 63 claims are assigned to various in-house Legal Counsel. The adjacent list sets out the number of current litigated claims by category or type. Beginning in Q1 2013, Legal Services started including motor vehicle accident claims involving police vehicles within its quarterly report to the Police Services Board. Though the City of Ottawa, as registered owner of those vehicles, is frequently named or included as a party in those claims, in keeping with the accident insurance scheme in Ontario, the inclusion of motor vehicle accident claims within the quarterly reports will provide a more accurate summary of all outstanding litigation affecting the Board.

2013 Non-Litigated Claims

During the third quarter of 2013, four new claims were received by the Claims Unit. Of these claims, two were denied and closed, and two remain open.

The following chart reflects the total number of claims currently open involving the Ottawa Police Services Board, as of the end of the third quarter 2013. As of October 1^st, there were ten open non-litigated claims: three Damage/Injuries – Arrest/Detainment claims, three MVA, Accident Benefit (AB) claims, two MVA, City and Third Party Vehicle – No AB claims, one Injury from City Animals claim, and one City Vehicle Hitting Pedestrian/Cyclist- AB claim.

All Open Claims - Police Services - As of October 1, 2013

Claim Type	Number of Claims
City Vehicle Hitting Pedestrian/Cyclist - AB	1
Damage/Injuries - Arrest/Detainment	3
Injuries from City Animals	1
MVA, Accident Benefits (AB)	3
MVA, City and Third Party Vehicle - No AB	2
Total Number of Open Claims - Police Services	10

TP = Third Party; MVA = Motor Vehicle Accident; AB = Accident Benefits; BI/PD = Bodily Injury/Property Damage

During the third quarter of 2013, three claims were closed by the Claims Unit. Of these claims, two were denied and one was paid.

A total of 23 non-litigated claims have been closed for the year-to-date at the end of the third quarter, with a total of $8,112.54 paid out in compensation. Below is the summary for number of claims and amount paid for each claim type.

Closed Police Services Claims Date Closed Between January 1, 2013 and September 30, 2013 As of October 1, 2013

Claim Type	Number of Claims	Paid Sum
Vehicle Towing/Impounding	7	$5,553.16
Property Damage - Forced Entry By Police	9	$1,356.01
Third Party Property Damage/Loss (Limited Use)	2	$783.37
Falling Ice, Snow, Debris - Third Party BI/PD	1	$300.00
Losses Due to Other Alleged City Involvement	1	$120.00
Third Party Property Damage From Employee Actions	1	$0.00
Loss Involving Police Property Room	1	$0.00
Third Party Property Damage By Contracted Veh/Equip.	1	$0.00
Total - Closed Police Services Claims	23	$8,112.54

Type of Matter	Number
Termination	1
Workplace Safety & Insurance Board	17
Ontario Human Rights Complaint	21
Other	14

2013 Labour and Employment Law Matters

In addition to the above civil litigation claims, the City Clerk and Solicitor Department is currently managing 53 labour and employment law matters on behalf of the Police Services Board, with one new claim received in the third quarter of 2013. The adjacent list sets out the number of current labour and employment law matters by category or type. All of the labour and employment law matters are assigned to in-house Legal Counsel.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

In a recent ruling, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal has decided that it will hear complaints by members of the public of discrimination by police officers even when these complaints have been submitted to a Police Service’s Professional Standards Section or to the Office of the Independent Police Review Director. This ruling is consistent with the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in the R. v. Penner case where the Supreme Court ruled that decisions rendered pursuant to the Police Services Act complaint process are not determinative for other legal proceedings. This will likely mean that in the future there will be a multiplicity of legal proceedings relating to complaints brought against police officers.

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 2013 year-end report will be presented to the Board at its February 2014 meeting.

(Original signed by)

M. Rick O’Connor

Board Solicitor