Summary

37174

Behrouz Salehi v. Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario

(Ontario) (Civil) (By Leave)

Keywords

None.

Summary

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

Charter of rights – Discrimination – Torts – Negligence – Duty of care – Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario – Statutory immunity for good faith performance of duties – Whether motions judge erred in granting summary judgment and dismissing applicant’s action for negligence – Professional Engineers Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P-28, s. 45(1).

Mr. Salehi, applicant, brought an action against the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario (“APEO”), respondent, alleging negligence and bad faith in the processing and approval of his engineering licence application. The APEO moved for and obtained summary judgment dismissing the action. The motions judge concluded that there was no genuine issue requiring trial. In particular, he found that the APEO did not owe a prima facie duty of care to Mr. Salehi, or, if it did, it was negated by residual policy considerations. Alternatively, the motions judge found that if the APEO owed such a duty of care, it benefitted from statutory immunity for the good faith performance of its duties pursuant to s. 45(1) of the Professional Engineers Act, and Mr. Salehi had failed to establish any bad faith on its part in processing the licence application. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.

Lower Court Rulings

November 26, 2015
Ontario Superior Court of Justice

CV-13-492401, 2015 ONSC 7271
Motion for summary judgment granted; action for negligence dismissed
June 3, 2016
Court of Appeal for Ontario

C61480, 2016 ONCA 438
Appeal dismissed
 

loading