When it comes to certain things, we won’t back down. About three years ago the Government introduced the legislation to bring in Immediate Roadside Prohibitions (IRP). For us that was the start of a campaign to protect the people of BC from this legislation. It’s been a difficult struggle but as regular readers of our blog already know, we’ve gained a lot of ground. That’s because we won’t back down.
Every time we get an illogical or untenable review decision, we encourage our clients to appeal it. Win or lose, we want the BC Supreme Court to know the type of reasoning that can take place at an administrative tribunal. We appeal certain IRP review decisions because when we’re right we won’t back down.
When the OSMV tribunal wouldn’t render decisions for our clients, we appealed to BC Supreme Court for mandamus orders. We knew it was the Government’s responsibility to apply their legislation. Ultimately they conceded our point when it became clear to them that we won’t back down.
We changed the law in BC when we forced the Government to look at each person’s driving record and consider their personal circumstances before making them have an Interlock in their car or go through the Responsible Driving Program (RDP). Now there is a review process. It only exists because we refused to back down.
Of course, the Government is tricky. They have money and the power to write legislation. They can make policies to protect themselves both financially and from political embarrassment. They can issue press releases and they are adept at controlling the news that comes out. There is no doubt that they have the upper hand.
Citizens of our society, including firebrand lawyers such as ourselves, are limited to publicizing their concerns in whatever means they can, and taking the matters to court. We’ve used whatever methods have been available to us because we don’t back down.
Once again, we won’t back down
As we’ve alluded a few times in the two last month, the Government has sent review decisions to many people in BC lifting the Interlock (IIP) yet upholding the RDP despite these drivers having perfect driving records. We decided to appeal these decisions.
We think that the reason that they did this was to reduce or limit the damages in the class-action suit we’re advancing. We think that someone gave instructions to uphold the RDP whenever possible because it may save the Government from having to pay back people they’ve wronged. We think that someone in the Government assumed that nobody would appeal these decisions because it’s too expensive to do so.
This is where the power of our blog comes in. Some of our readers were incensed when they read about this and then received their review decision lifting the interlock but still making them do the RDP. So we appealing the decisions whenever our clients give us instructions to do so. As we said, we won’t back down. But facing a reckoning in court, the Government may back down.
Which is what they did last week on the first of our Petitions to review the tribunal decision that lifted the Interlock yet upheld the RDP. In the very first petition, the Government simply agreed to cancel the adjudicator’s decision. It ended there. Our client no longer needs to do the RDP and if we’re successful in the class action she should get the money back that she paid for the course.
We’re now advancing more and more appeals of the decisions when we seek the Reconsideration of a Referral to Remedial Programs and the IIP and RDP are not completely lifted. We’re taking this one all the way because we won’t back down.
We’re pretty certain that the Government, with their back against the wall and knowing that we’re willing to appeal ALL of the review decisions, will eventually have no choice but to come to court and make the argument that someone with a perfect driving history for 25 years and no alcohol problem should nevertheless be forced to to go through the RDP because they’ve already paid for it.
We’re confident in our argument. And when we think we’re right, we won’t back down.