Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan

This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: All too often, people with serious mental illnesses end up in the criminal justice system when they are not afforded adequate and sustained medical treatment. In a case discussed on the show, a man who had suffered from multiple mental health issues since he was eight years old was charged with assault with a weapon and aggravated assault after...

This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: In the context of a judicial review of a decision to compel a patient to continue to receive antipsychotic medication against her will for many years, the difference between bail in a criminal case and involuntary treatment pursuant to the Mental Health Act is discussed. In most circumstances, when someone is arrested for a criminal offence, the...

This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: A dispute over the adoption of a dog named Maddie ended up in court after the woman who “rescued” and sold her tried to get her puppies back to sell. The dispute involved a woman in Port Alberni who has a business selling dogs that the judge concluded was misrepresented to be a registered non-profit organization called Ziggy’s Rescue. A family p...

This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: In response to criticism from mayors and others, a report entitled A Rapid Investigation into Repeat Offending and Random Stranger Violence in British Columbia was prepared. The authors of the report, a retired deputy police chief, and an academic, found that in 2021, while there had been a 7.55% reduction in the non-violent crime severity index...

This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: In 2008 the age at which someone can consent to sexual activity was raised from 14 to 16. Some exceptions permit people younger than 16 to consent to sexual activity with someone close in age. A 12- or 13-year-old can consent to sexual activity with someone who is less than two years older. A 14- or 15-year-old can consent to sexual activity wit...

This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: Non-pecuniary damages are compensation for personal injury losses that have not required the outlay of money. The purpose is to compensate injured people for pain, suffering, disability, inconvenience, and loss of enjoyment of life. They are also referred to as compensation for pain and suffering. Such damages are distinct from pecuniary damages...

This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: Five different legal challenges to COVID-19 restrictions are all dismissed on the same day. Several of the people who launched legal challenges failed to avail themselves of internal legislative review mechanisms before commencing challenges in court. Before commencing a judicial review, it’s a requirement that someone exhaust legislative avenue...

This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: Promissory estoppel is an equitable doctrine that can protect a claimant’s reasonable reliance on another person’s word. It is intended to avoid unfairness by enforcing promises. In a case discussed on the show, a judge needed to determine if either promissory estoppel or another equitable doctrine called unjust enrichment should result in a far...

This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: When someone trespasses on property by building or installing something on it without permission, damages can be awarded. The amount of such an award will depend on the circumstances: a)nominal damages if the owner had not proven any actual loss b)actual damages suffered by the owner; or c)damages equal to a sum that should reasonably be paid by...

This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: The British Columbia General Employee Union is picketing government liquor distribution centers. The explanation for this strategic choice can be found in the Liquor Distribution Act, which is the legal basis for how alcohol is sold in British Columbia. The Liquor Distribution Act creates a government monopoly over alcohol distribution in the pr...

The week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: When children are believed to be at risk of harm in British Columbia, they can be apprehended by the director of the Ministry of Children and Families and placed with another family member or into foster care. Pursuant to the Child, Family and Community Service Act, a judge would then need to determine what was in the best interest of the child....

This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: Section 273.1(1) of the Criminal Code specifies that a person’s voluntary agreement to “engage in the sexual activity in question” is required. Even where there is consent to sexual activity, it can be legally ineffective in various circumstances, including where the consent is obtained by force, the exercise of authority or fraud. In 2014, the...

This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: In Canada, murder can be either first or second degree. A conviction for either kind of murder results in a mandatory life sentence. With first-degree murder, however, a person must wait 25 years before they can even ask for parole. For second-degree, the judge can decide how long someone would need to wait before being allowed to ask for parole...

This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: The British Columbia Medicare Protection Act purports attempts to protect Medicare by prohibiting any doctor from charging any more than what Medicare pays for any service that it covers and effectively prohibiting people from purchasing private insurance for any of these services. These market interventions, combined with insufficient funding f...

This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: In August of 2018, two sisters were walking their dogs on Central Saanich Road in Saanich BC when a vehicle struck them. One of the women, and her dog, were killed. The other woman survived with devastating injuries. The woman who survived spent a year in the hospital. Her injuries included broken ribs, a spinal injury, and damage to an eye. Mos...

This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: Twenty-five years ago, a man and his family moved into a home they had built in the Highlands with only a temporary occupancy permit. A final occupancy permit was never obtained, and the lack of compliance was noted on title. As his wife passed away and his children had moved out, the homeowner decided it was time to sell the home. The homeowner...

This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: An appeal in a criminal case does not involve asking the judges hearing the appeal to retry the case. It’s a review of what took place at the original trial. The Court of Appeal can allow an appeal if the verdict at trial was unreasonable and not supported by the evidence, if there was a wrong decision made by a trial judge on a question of law,...

This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: Bill C-21 proposes various amendments to the Criminal Code and Firearms Act to restrict gun ownership. One part of the legislation is a proposal to freeze the sale or transfer of handguns. This has already had the unintended consequence of causing handgun sales to skyrocket in anticipation of the possibility of sales being stopped. As currently...

This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: When the divorced father of an adult child with learning disabilities was diagnosed with terminal cancer, he established a trust with $750,000 to provide for his son following his death. As he had been through an acrimonious divorce, the father was concerned that his ex-wife did not get access to the funds for her own purposes. To prevent this t...

The week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: The Supreme Court of Canada has found that making people ineligible to even apply for parole for 150 years is cruel and unusual punishment. In 1967 Canada repealed the Criminal Code provisions that allowed people convicted of murder to be put to death by hanging, except in the case of on-duty police officers and prison guards. These last exceptio...

This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: Section 530 of the Criminal Code provides a right to a trial in either English or French. It also requires a judge or justice “before whom an accused first appears” to inform accused people of this right. If someone requests a trial in French or English no later than the time set for their trial, it is mandatory that this be provided. If a reque...

This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: Criminal offences require two things, often described with Latin names: actus reus and mens rea. Actus reus is an intentional physical act. Mens rea is a guilty mind. We don’t wish to convict people for physical acts that were not intentional: crashing your car when you have a heart attack or tripping and falling into someone else would not be c...

This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: The leaked draft decision on abortion from the US Supreme Court has raised questions concerning the law in Canada. For 100 years in Canada, from 1869 until 1969, having or performing an abortion was a criminal offence in Canada. In 1969 the Criminal Code was amended to permit abortions but only when a committee of doctors certified that a woman’...

There are a relatively small number of people who are responsible for a high volume of property crime and associated public disorder. There are a large number of police interactions with people committing offences such as shoplifting, mischief, possession of stolen property, possession of drugs, and breaching previous orders. This has resulted in frustration and a recent letter from BC Urban Mayor...

This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: An RCMP officer from Nanaimo is on trial for assault causing bodily harm after he is alleged to have punched a detainee in the eye causing a fractured orbital bone. The complaint in the case was arrested on her 19th birthday after her friends called the police for help because she was so drunk. The RCMP officer that attended was unable to find a...