Civil Litigation

Hill v. Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Police Services Board

On October 4, 2007, the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed that the police may be sued by persons who are wrongly accused or convicted of crime if an investigation is conducted negligently.

Jason Hill was charged with robbing a bank and spent 20 months in jail before being acquitted. He sued the Hamilton-Wentworth police, alleging that there had been a number of serious deficiencies in their investigation. Hill lost at trial and appealed to the Court of Appeal for Ontario. The Court of Appeal held that, in Ontario, the police can be sued if investigations are conducted negligently.

A majority of the Supreme Court of Canada agreed. It held that police officers are not immune from the tort of negligence and owe a duty of care to suspects. Their conduct should be measured against the standard of how a reasonable police officer in the same circumstances would have acted.

Unfortunately, although the Court acknowledged that Jason Hill had been wronged, it held that the police investigation in his case had not been negligent. Although the investigation fell short of good police practice, the Court held, the officers met the very low standards that prevailed at the time Hill was arrested and charged.

Mr. Hill was represented by Sean Dewart and Louis Sokolov.

Click here to read the Supreme Court's decision