Case Law

On the 19th of August, 2013 Christopher Griffith stopped his vehicle in the parking lot of the Royal Canadian Legion on 106 Avenue in Surrey, B.C. He became involved in an altercation with people present in the parking lot. Matters escalated to the point that these people advanced on his vehicle brandishing weapons and Mr. Griffith feared serious harm to himself, his passenger and his vehicle. He accelerated quickly away, crossing an adjacent vacant lot and departing northbound on 135A Street.

In the case of R v Griffith we find ourselves in the Supreme Court at an appeal of a conviction for speeding. Edward Scherbey was driving out of a 30 km/h school zone travelling at 54 km/h. Constable Sabulsky made both a visual estimate of his vehicle's speed and measured it with a Stalker Dual DSR radar device before issuing the speeding ticket. At the conclusion of the trial in Provincial Court, a conviction was entered.

This case involves Doctor Benham Beheshti who was a physician at a hospital in Port Moody and lived in Vancouver. On August 30, 2015 he was on call and summoned to the hospital to treat a seriously ill patient. He was stopped for speeding on Pender Street and issued a traffic ticket by a member of the Vancouver Police Department.

Shan Khan was a pedestrian trying to cross 152nd Street at 81st Avenue in Surrey. She crossed to the median barrier dividing the four lanes of traffic and waited for the approaching vehicles to stop. When the vehicle using the lane nearest to her did stop, she began to cross. Unfortunately the driver behind that vehicle did not stop, changed lanes to pass it and struck Ms. Khan.

On April 24, 2012 an employee of Dueck Downtown Chevrolet Buick GMC Limited left a pickup truck unlocked, unattended and idling with the keys in the ignition outside one of the dealership's detailing bays. It was stolen by David Bolton.

This is an appeal to the Supreme Court over the dismissal of a number of violation tickets by Judicial Justice Adair. In each case the justice decided to dismiss these traffic tickets because they took too long to proceed to trial. Neither the Crown nor the disputants involved had any input into these decisions.

The case of Salo v ICBC involves a bicycle collision that took place at an intersection with North End Road on Saltspring Island. Mr. Salo was seriously injured in the incident and sued ICBC. He claimed that an unidentified driver who was at the scene was responsible for the collision and asked the court to determine liability.

The case of R v Kafka involves a crash between a pickup truck and truck tractor that was making a wide left turn. The pickup driver passed the heavy truck over a double solid line thinking that the truck was moving right to park at the side of the road.

William Eller represented the Aspen Road Community's interests in this action against the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure's (MOTI) proposed changes to the Malahat Highway intersection serving their area. The action was taken because the residents felt that the MOTI failed to incorporate their concerns into the improvement project. An injunction was requested to prevent the changes being made until the safest design for the affected area was determined in full consultation with the residents.