Court of Appeal

Judge:

The Honourable Justice Joel E. Fichaud

Appeal Heard:

October 10, 2017, in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Subject:

Workers’ compensation – disclosure of file material – procedural fairness

Summary:

Mr. Baker filed a claim under the Workers’ Compensation Act, S.N.S. 1994-95, c. 10, for psychological stress caused by his employment. His employer disputed that any stress was caused by his employment. The Board’s Claims Manager and Hearing Officer upheld the claim. The Employer appealed to the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Tribunal. Before proceeding with the merits of the appeal, the Employer applied for fuller disclosure of the documents possessed by the Board respecting Mr. Baker.

The Tribunal issued a Preliminary Decision that directed the disclosure to the Employer of the Board’s complete file on Mr. Baker, whether or not its contents were relevant to the appeal. The Tribunal said that a “relevance”-based test for disclosure was unworkable in practice, and concluded that the principles of procedural fairness required that the Employer see the entire file without any vetting for relevance.

Mr. Baker appealed to the Court of Appeal.

Issues:

 Did the Tribunal’s departure from the relevance standard for disclosure unreasonably interpret the Tribunal’s procedural authority under the Workers’ Compensation Act and the principles of procedural fairness?

Result:

The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal. There is no principle of procedural fairness that a litigant is entitled to see every document it requests, regardless of relevance and without a relevance ruling by an impartial arbiter. The Tribunal unreasonably interpreted its procedural discretion under s. 240(1) of the Workers’ Compensation Act and the principles of procedural fairness. The Court remitted the issue of disclosure to the Tribunal to determine disclosure based on the relevance of the documents.