Ralhan v. Singh

The Court upheld the contempt finding based on the trial judge's credibility findings and refused to interfere; it exercised appellate authority to set aside the specific term requiring involvement of Mr. V in counselling because that conflicted with an existing restraining order and failed to consider the children's best interests, substituting an order that the father attend and cooperate with counselling; costs were fixed at $4,000 on appeal.

Citation: 2017 ONCA 147
Parties: Respondent/applicant: Shavinder Ralhan; Appellant/respondent: Jaswinder Singh
Court: Court of Appeal for Ontario
Jurisdiction: Canada
Judgment Date: 22 February 2017
Procedural Posture: Family / Appeal
Outcome: Appeal allowed in part; set aside subparagraph ordering involvement of Mr. V and replaced it; in all other respects appeal dismissed.
Legal Topics: Contempt, Access Orders, Child Access, Counselling Order, Costs, Restraining Order
Source Language: English

Family Law Civil Procedure Contempt Access Orders Child Access Counselling Order Costs Restraining Order

Case Brief

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Full judgment text Legal principles 4 Authorities cited 3 Party arguments 2 Amounts and remedies 3

Parties

Shavinder Ralhan

Respondent/applicant

Jaswinder Singh

Appellant/respondent

Procedural Posture

Family / Appeal

Legal Issues

1 Whether appellant committed contempt by preventing access on two occasions
2 Whether the contempt finding should be interfered with on appeal
3 Appropriateness of penalty and costs given appellant's means

Ratio Decidendi

Court Disposition

Appeal allowed in part; set aside subparagraph ordering involvement of Mr. V and replaced it; in all other respects appeal dismissed.

Orders

Set aside subparagraph 4 of the order of Spence J. at paragraph 27 of his reasons
Replace it with: The father shall attend and co-operate with the counselling process