On January 10th, the New Brunswick Court of Appeal held that various RCMP records obtained by a plaintiff under access legislation and listed in her Schedule B were producible notwithstanding her privilege claim.
The Court, in essence, rejected the plaintiff’s suggestion that the RCMP had a continuing interest in the plaintiff’s use of the documents. It held that the Wagg screening process for dealing with production and use of Crown brief materials did not apply because the plaintiff did not obtain the records from the Crown pursuant to the Stinchcombe duty. Similarly, it held the documents could not be subject to public interest privilege given they had been produced by the RCMP pursuant to an access reqeust. The Court commented:
Ms. Bennett’s claim that “[f]rom a public policy perspective a person should be able to access their personal information which is held by any government department including the RCMP without fear that once they access that information it could be subject to production to a stranger by virtue of litigation” is irreconcilable with the disclosure obligations of a party who launches a civil action where the documents are relevant to the subject-matter of the claim.
The Court also held the records were not subject to litigation privilege, though obtained by the plaintiff’s counsel after the start of litigation.
Bennett v State Farm Fire and Casualty Company, 2013 NBCA 4 (CanLII).
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