Mercedes successfully represented the appellant before the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board in an appeal of a CPSO decision. The CPSO had determined that the physicians had not breached the standard of care in unilaterally placing a “Do Not Resuscitate” order in a patient’s chart without consent. The physicians had unilaterally determined that resuscitation […]
Category: Notable Cases
Mercedes Perez and lawyer Anita Szigeti represented the intervener Mental Health Legal Committee at the Supreme Court of Canada in a case that considered the Superior Court’s jurisdiction to appoint amicus curiae and to fix the amicus’ rate of renumeration. Read the Supreme Court’s decision in Ontario v. Criminal Lawyers’ Association of Ontario here. […]
Mercedes was co-counsel to the interveners Mental Health Legal Committee and the HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario in a life support case heard by the Supreme Court of Canada. In Cuthbertson v. Rasouli, a majority of the Supreme Court agreed that end of life treatment decisions require consent and life support cannot be terminated […]
Mercedes spoke at a Canadian Bar Association professional development program with lawyers Lonny Rosen and Valerie Wise. The program was titled “Civil Commitment under the Mental Health Act: Does ‘Brian’s Law’ Go too Far?”. Mercedes spoke about her work representing the applicants in a constitutional challenge to the Box B and community treatment order […]
Mercedes and lawyer Marshall Swadron successfully argued that costs should be awarded in an unsuccessful public interest constitutional challenge. Costs in the amount of $100,000 were awarded to the Empowerment Council in its Charter challenge to the Box B and community treatment order provisions in Ontario’s Mental Health Act. This was a notable accomplishment given […]
Mercedes was co-counsel to the applicants in a constitutional challenge to the Box B and community treatment order provisions in Ontario’s Mental Health Act. Read the Superior Court’s decision. […]
Alex was successful in seeking the removal of counsel appointed for an incapable person in an end-of-life case at the Consent and Capacity Board. The lawyer, who was appointed for a non-communicating senior, had put forward a personal opinion on the issues in dispute. The Board agreed that it was inappropriate to take a position […]
Mercedes successfully represented the three children of an elderly Orthodox Jewish woman in a coma at the Baycrest Hospital in a challenge to her power of attorney for personal care document. The woman had appointed her three children as her attorneys for personal care. The power of attorney document was boilerplate and contained an “end […]
Following her appointment by the Ontario Court of Appeal as amicus curiae (along with lawyer Karen Steward) in a treatment incapacity appeal, Mercedes successfully argued that the appellant had received ineffective assistance of counsel from his Consent and Capacity Board lawyer. This was the first time that an ineffective assistance of counsel claim was advanced […]
Kelley represented a client in a Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario case against the Toronto police. Her client, who has a physical disability, asserted that he was discriminated against when police officers arrested him on suspicion of having a gun because he was a black man walking with a limp. See The Full Story […]