November 28, 2017

Appeal success mentioned in National Self-Represented Litigants Project Podcast

The self-represented plaintiff Carbone is pleased to be quoted and have her recent successful decision about reasonable apprehension of judicial bias mentioned in the latest podcast ("In Other News" segment) and newsletter article by the National Self-Represented Litigants Project (NSRLP).

The Alberta Court of Appeal decision Carbone v McMahon, 2017 ABCA 384, is about issues of apprehension of bias regarding a case management judge who had a recent solicitor-client relationship with the opposing defence lawyer appearing before him in this lawyer abuse case. The judge refused to recuse himself, but the appeal court found there was insufficient disclosure of that solicitor-client retainer and set aside the judge's decision declining recusal. The appeal court also noted the judge did not hear the plaintiff's application for his recusal for two years. More can be read on this decision here.

The NSRLP is focused on improving the justice system for self-represented litigants (SRLs) through research, dialogue on SRL issues with key players in the justice system, and providing resources for SRLs on the NSRLP website. The NSRLP also successfully intervened in the recent Supreme Court of Canada case, Pintea v Johns, SCC 2017 23, which contributed to the SCC's important endorsement of the Statement of Principles on Self-Represented Litigants promoting access to justice for SRLs.

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