It’s that time of year when people reminisce about the things they’ve done. This year is special because not only are entering a new year, we are also going into a new decade.
So, as we prepare to usher in a new decade, we thought we’d also look retrospectively at some of our highlights from the 2010s. It turns out we’ve done a lot. So much that it’s hard to squeeze into one blog post. We picked a few of our favourites and present them to you now in no particular order.
If there’s a recurring theme to our proudest moments of the last ten years, it would have to be: standing up for the little guy. There are few things that make us happier than sticking it to the man. Freeing ordinary, hardworking people from the yoke of Kafkaesque driving legislation is why we get up in the morning.
But we are not getting complacent. Rest assured, we have some big things planned for the next decade. Watch this space.
BAC Datamaster
When the BAC Datamaster breathalyzer was introduced in the mid-90s, the police in BC gave interviews in which they claimed that their new device was infallible. Of course, it wasn’t.
We made public a problem with the BAC Datamaster in 2012. A design flaw with a valve in the device meant that it could give wrong readings. Public trust in the device was shattered and eventually, the RCMP replaced it with the Intox EC/IR II.
Had the BAC Datamaster remained the device of choice, who knows how many BC drivers would have been wrongfully convicted?
Improper calibration of ASDs
One wat to calibrate an approved screening device (ASD) is with something called a wet-bath simulator. The Port Moody police used this method. It requires a bottle of solution and a directive concerning how many calibration tests may be conducted with each bottle clearly stated that no more than 16 test samples were to be taken from one bottle of solution.
We did a little digging and discovered that in Port Moody they were conducting at least 18 and up to 50 tests with each bottle of solution. This was clearly wrong.
In 2011, we went public with our findings. Ultimately it led to hundreds and hundreds of Immediate Roadside Prohibitions (IRP) being revoked.
Vancouver photocopy debacle
In early 2012, we noticed was that the Certificates of Qualified ASD Calibrator provided in one particular case were identical. So we set about the task of pulling every Certificate of Qualified ASD Calibrator we received from the Vancouver Police Department that year. Sure enough, every Certificate was an identical photocopy of some other document.
The Certificate of Qualified ASD Calibrator is a very serious document. It is required to be filled out by the officer in charge of calibration and submitted as part of the evidence in an IRP hearing to demonstrate the device was properly calibrated.
In a period of about a month, every IRP file we had in Vancouver resulted in the prohibition being revoked. All successful IRP decisions in November 2011 showed that nearly 35% of the IRPs revoked in November were revoked as a result of the photocopy issue.
Buhr
In 2013, Acumen Law Corporation represented a client appealing against her driving prohibition. Ms. Buhr had her car impounded and received a driving ban following a roadside breath test.
A government adjudicator rejected her first appeal on the basis of the Superintendent’s Report on Approved Screening Devices. We argued – successfully – that the report should be inadmissible as evidence.
The ruling led to the quashing of potentially hundreds of driving prohibitions.
First IRP case at the Supreme Court of Canada
In 2014, Acumen Law Corporation made history when it fought the first-ever IRP case at the Supreme Court of Canada.
You can read about the details of the case here.
Challenge to interlock and RDP requirements
As the quote goes, “The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there.” Back in 2013, together with Filkow Law, we discovered that the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles was sending everyone it could to the Remedial Driving Program and requiring them to install ignition interlock devices in their vehicles.
The problem was, these remedial programs were supposed to be discretionary. By indiscriminately forcing these programs on people, they were not exercising any discretion.
Clearly this wasn’t fair, so we challenged the requirements. In the end, about 11,000 people had interlock devices removed from their vehicles and 1,137 people received compensation.
Incorrect gas used for calibration
In another coup for Acumen Law, in 2015, we found out the RCMP had been using the wrong gas to calibrate its breathalyzers via an FOI request.
Dozens of people had their IRPs revoked due to the error.
Alco-sensor IV
Another one bites the dust. We love being a thorn in the side of the manufacturers of the equipment police use in impaired driving investigations. So when we used the Alco-sensor IV in 2012 and obtained false positives for alcohol, we gave the information to the RCMP.
The Alco-sensor IV was ultimately replaced with the Alco-sensor FST.
R v. Koumoutsidis
In 2017, Kyla Lee made an application for all of the records for drug analysis carried out by Health Canada in a particular case. Health Canada refused, arguing it held status as a third-party records holder, so it shouldn’t have to disclose its records.
We took Health Canada to the BC Supreme Court which found in our favour. The ruling changed the law in Canada and Health Canada is no longer considered a third party.
ICBC breach investigations
When the IRP scheme was introduced, it changed the legal landscape. For one, ICBC was now finding people in breach of their insurance on the basis of breath test results.
There was no one person people could go to, and nowhere we could send our clients. Luckily for us, we had Roy Ho. Roy became the go-to lawyer for ICBC breach investigations.
By staying ahead of these changes we were able to help countless clients who would have otherwise lost their insurance.