The B.C. Supreme Court has rapped the provincial government’s knuckles for penalizing allegedly impaired motorists under the original version of the anti-drunk driving scheme after it was struck down.
Victoria had no authority after June 30, 2012 — the deadline to fix the flawed sections of the Motor Vehicle Act — to impose certain Immediate Roadside Prohibitions and penalties under the old law, Justice Peter Voith said.
He quashed any bans, fines or remedial programs facing the drivers who blew a “fail” in the weeks before the Nov. 30, 2011 judgment that found some parts of the controversial impaired driving legislation unconstitutional.
“I am aware that an unfortunate consequence of this decision is that some driving prohibitions and penalties that were initially justified will be set aside,” Justice Voith wrote.
“However, procedural fairness is a cornerstone of modern administrative law … I therefore consider that this result is preferable to the petitioners being denied their right to the review that they relied upon — a denial of natural justice and procedural fairness in the truest sense.”
In spite of the win, defence lawyers remain outraged at the high-handed conduct of the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles (now RoadSafetyBC) and continued to criticize the law, which represents a new, hybrid legal instrument — an administrative remedy to a criminal problem.
“Somewhere along the line the tribunal appears to have got marching orders to conduct hearings and render decisions applying a law that was no longer in existence,” said litigator Paul Doroshenko.
“Not many people would be comfortable with that sort of decision-making process.”