Jamal v. Ontario (Community and Social Services)

Jamal v. Ontario (Community and Social Services) Collection Decisions of the Court of Appeal Date 2014-01-21 Neutral citation 2014 ONCA 47 Docket numbers C56956 Judges Weiler, Karen Merle Magnuson; Rouleau, Paul S.; Strathy, George R. Subject Civil Decision Content COURT OF APPEAL FOR ONTARIO CITATION: Jamal v. Ontario (Community and Social Services), 2014 ONCA 47 DATE: 20140121 DOCKET: C56956 Weiler, Rouleau and Strathy JJ.A. BETWEEN Naseem Jamal Appellant and Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Ontario, as represented by the Ministry of Community and Social Services (“HMQ”) Respondent Naseem Jamal, acting in person Kevin Dorgan, for the respondent Heard and released orally: January 15, 2014 On appeal from the order of Justice Carole J. Brown of the Superior Court of Justice, dated March 19, 2013, with reasons reported at 2013 ONSC 1290. ENDORSEMENT [1] Notwithstanding a settlement agreement, the appellant has been engaged in litigation with the respondent, her former employer, over employment-related matters for over 10 years. Various proceedings she has commenced have been dismissed, some after unsuccessful attempts to appeal to this court and to the Supreme Court of Canada. [2] In this proceeding, the appellant made further claims related to her employment. The motion judge dismissed her action, holding that: (a) the claims were barred by the Limitations Act, 2002, S.O. 2002, c. 24, Sched. B.; (b) the claims disclosed no reasonable cause of action; (c) the claims were an abuse of process, vexatious, or frivolous; and (d) the claims were outside the jurisdiction of the court and within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Grievance Settlement Board. Any one of these grounds would have been sufficient to dismiss the action. [3] At its core, this action is an attempt to re-litigate issues that were or ought to have been raised in the many prior proceedings launched by the appellant in the courts and other tribunals. The appellant has already received a full hearing with respect to all these issues. The doctrine of issue estoppel applies: see Danyluk v. Ainsworth Technologies Inc., 2001 SCC 44, [2001] 2 S.C.R. 460. While this court has discretion to decline to apply the doctrine, we would not do so in this case, because we agree with the motion judge that this action is an abuse of process. [4] We therefore dismiss the appeal. We add that we consider the appellant’s allegations concerning counsel for the respondent to be entirely unfounded. [5] Costs to the respondent fixed at $1,500, inclusive of all applicable taxes and disbursements. The amount is modest in light of the appellant’s circumstances and is no reflection on the thorough and very helpful factum prepared by counsel for the respondent. “Karen Weiler J.A.” “Paul Rouleau J.A.” “G.R. Strathy J.A.”