If you received an IRP before November 30, 2011, for blowing Fail we can confirm that your interlock worries are over.
We represent a great number of people who were issued 90-day Immediate Roadside Prohibitions under the first version of the IRP scheme. For the clients who were unsuccessful on review, and who gave us the instructions to appeal their IRP decision, we filed Petitions in BC Supreme Court. Filing the Petitions caused the so-called Remedial Programs (IIP and RDP) to be suspended pending the decision in Sivia.
On November 30, 2011, the Court gave the first Sivia ruling. The Government took the position that the entire IRP legality question was resolved by the decision and that everyone who received an IRP should then complete the Interlock and RDP requirement.
We refused to back down. As far as we were concerned, until all of the appeals had been exhausted and the issues resolved in each individual case in which we acted, the Remedial Programs had to remain in the shelf.
Then we challenged the application of the Remedial Programs. In April the Government conceded and accepted that we were correct all along – the Interlock (IIP) and RDP were not mandatory. You can go back 3 months on our blog to read all about it.
There is now a review procedure to determine whether the IIP and RDP are appropriate in each individual case. The procedure more or less matches that which we forced upon the Government.
Being relentless lawyers, we wanted to know all about the decision making under the new IIP and RDP review procedure. So we made a Freedom of Information request for the new Policy Manual used by adjudicators in considering each individual case.
Of course, the Government didn’t give this up without making it difficult. This Government thinks it should be able to keep secrets from the taxpayers. In any event, we were successful in forcing them to hand over the secret documents.
Interlock worries are over
There is a lot of important information in the disclosure we obtained, and we’re thinking about what it all means. As we’ve said before, we form short and long-term strategies to deal with the IRP scheme. So we will use the material to get the best results for our clients and to help us in our on-going challenge to the IRP law.
The big news is that, if you have an old IRP (from before November 30, 2011) for blowing Fail and for whatever reason the Interlock and RDP were put on hold, your Remedial program worries are over.
The Government has thrown in the towel. They have changed their policy so that anyone who received a Fail IRP before the first Sivia decision and who has yet to have an interlock or go through the RDP are now free of these requirements.
We take credit for this. We forced them to change their policy.
There is a lesson here. We made the decision long ago to be relentless when it came to defending our clients and taking on the IRP law. If you were one of our early IRP clients and you stuck with us from the beginning, or if you came to us from another law firm to have us handle your appeal, then you did the right thing. Now your interlock worries are over.