Law Times

Page 6 November 20, 2017 • Law Times www.lawtimesnews.com COMMENT u EDITORIAL OBITER By Gabrielle Giroday Correcting Corrections L aw Times reports that Correctional Service Canada has been found to be negligent in the severe beating of an inmate. The ruling in Fontenelle v. Canada (Attorney General), 2017 ONSC 6604, comes after the attack on the inmate at Mill- haven Institution, a maximum-security facility in Ontario. James Fontenelle was seriously beaten after he was placed in a unit with serious offenders and staff failed to follow established security rules. The ruling has a few important elements for lawyers interested in prison law or who pursue civil litigation against the Crown. Ontario Superior Court Justice David Price's words about the facility — and the security offered therein — are withering. "CSC placed Mr. Fontenelle, who was not a violent offender, among inmates who had histories of serious violence, including in- stitutional violence against other inmates. CSC failed to maintain surveillance of the interior of Mr. Fontenelle's cell, at a time when those other inmates, including the assailants, had access to the cell, contrary to CSC's own regulations, and when Mr. Fontenelle had no effective means of raising an alarm, because the CSC staff had failed to follow the existing protocols for responding to such alarms. CSC thereby created a risk of the assault on Mr. Fontenelle," says the ruling. It doesn't stop there. Price made the finding after the correctional service brought a summary judgment motion seeking to dismiss the action filed by Fontenelle. Instead of dismissing the action, Price ruled in favour of Fontenelle and bifurcated the proceeding to hold a trial at a later date on damages. "There is no necessity for a trial, as the CSC's own records establish its liability," said the ruling. This ruling makes the CSC and AG look disor- ganized. Meanwhile, for lawyers interested in what goes on behind prison walls, it's a glimpse into what can be done on behalf on inmates. LT ©2017 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or stored in a retrieval system without written per- mission. The opinions expressed in articles are not necessarily those of the publisher. Information presented is compiled from sources believed to be accurate, however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. Law Times disclaims any warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or currency of the contents of this publication and disclaims all liability in respect of the results of any action taken or not taken in reli- ance upon information in this publication. Publications Mail Agreement Number 40762529 • ISSN 0847-5083 Law Times is published 40 times a year by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. 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Karen Lorimer Managing Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jennifer Brown Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gabrielle Giroday Staff Writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Alex Robinson Copy Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Patricia Cancilla CaseLaw Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leah Craven Art Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Phyllis Barone Production Co-ordinator . . . . . . . . .Catherine Giles Electronic Production Specialist . . . Derek Welford Turning tide of tickets is tricky BY IAN HARVEY A year ago, we scored four tickets to an Adele concert in Toronto. It was a miracle because we all know ticket resellers usu- ally scoop them all in seconds, but there we were, rocking and rolling in the deep with Adele. I was reminded of that night recently when high-profile ticket reseller Julien Lavallée of Montreal popped into inter- national headlines last week. As social pariahs, ticket scalpers like Lavallée rank just above granny bashers. It didn't help his standing when we learned he's stashed millions into tax-free Cayman Islands accounts by using soft- ware to scoop up tickets for shows such as the Adele concert in Toronto and around the world. Tax issues aside, however, he didn't break the law in scooping those tickets, as MPP Sophie Kiwala (Liberal — Kingston and the Islands) noted when she spoke in support of her private member's bill last year. Her proposal, Bill 22, the Ticket Spec- ulation Amendment Act (Purchase and Sale Requirements), 2016, would amend The Ticket Speculation Act to bar using software to bypass online systems, which limits the number of tickets bought at one time. It would also ban reselling tickets for more than 50 per cent of face value. Convictions would bring fines of up to $50,000 or jail terms of up to 12 months for individuals and $250,000 in fines for corporations. Kiwala pursued it when tickets for the Tragically Hip's farewell show in Kings- ton, Ont. in August 2016 were snapped up by ticket bots, then resold for up to $3,000 a pop. "Tickets to popular concerts, sport- ing events, theatre productions and other forms of entertainment become unavail- able within moments of being placed on- line for sale," she told the Legislature. "Scalper bots result in ticket resell- ers overriding the feature that limits the number of tickets that can be bought in one single transaction." Both the Progressive Conservatives and the NDP have joined together to sup- port the bill, which has been kicked over to the Standing Committee on General Government, but it has scant hope of surviving before next years' general election. And, yet, it was the Liber- als themselves who helped create this mess. "Before 2015, reselling tickets, otherwise known as scalping, was illegal online and off line, but that changed when the government changed the regulations in the Ticket Speculation Act," MPP Monique Taylor (NDP — Hamilton Mountain) said in support- ing the bill. "Rather than seriously look- ing at ways to protect consumers, the Liberal government decided the best way to stop people from breaking the law was to change the law. "These changes allowed scalpers to re- sell tickets for a profit online, with very few stipulations. That opened the door to the big players in the business with so- phisticated software." MPP Todd Smith (PC — Prince Ed- ward-Hastings) went further. "Getting tickets is a bit like playing cards in a casino. The odds are always with the house," he says. "You simply can't get the tickets because you can't beat the bots. It's a fixed game." He urged nailing scalpers under s. 380 (2) of the Criminal Code, which bars acting "with intent to defraud, (to) affect the public market price of stocks, shares, merchandise or anything that is offered for sale to the public." Vendors should also be required to list how many tickets are available for sale and not already spoken for in a pre-sale, as is practice, says Smith. "While fans may think that, say, 16,000 tickets are going on sale for the Adele show at the Air Canada Centre or that 30,000 are going on sale at the Rog- ers Centre, in reality, half of that number of tickets may actually be going on sale," he says. Alas, however, it looks like we'll be playing the ticket lottery while the La- vallées of this world stash their cash in the Caymans. Unless, of course, another jurisdiction nails him under its own legislation. LT uIan Harvey has been a journalist for more than 40 years, writing about a di- verse range of issues including legal and political affairs. His email address is ianharvey@rogers.com. Queen's Park Ian Harvey

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