This is the second judgement of the BC Supreme Court in this proceeding. In the initial decision, Madam Justice Bruce dismissed the plaintiff’s application for an interlocutory injunction restraining conduct by our clients based on allegations of breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty. She did so because a collective agreement in place between the relevant parties clothed the arbitrator with exclusive jurisdiction over all disputes, and the BC Supreme Court was therefore without jurisdiction.
In this decision, we acted as lawyers for the defendants and successfully applied to dismiss the action in its entirety and obtained an order that the plaintiff pay our client’s legal costs. The court makes specific comments as to how the recoverable costs should be determined.
This case has signficant employment law implications in the context of disputes where unionized parties are involved. Where employee and employer relations are governed by collective agreements normal wrongful dismissal principles generally do not appy.