This is the important IRP update that you have been expecting if your Immediate Roadside Prohibition, RDP and Interlock have been deferred pending the court challenge.
As we expected, we received a letter from the Legal Services Branch of the Justice Minister’s office (formerly the Attorney General) indicating where they see things proceeding from here for people who have challenged their Fail 90-day Immediate Roadside Prohibitions in court. The letter is in respect of anyone who appealed their case based on the November 30, 2011, Sivia ruling.
The letter was sent to us by fax at 4:31 p.m. Friday afternoon. This is when the OSMV and the Justice Minister’s office send us faxes. This is a tactical decision of some sort. They may do this because they stop answering their phones at that time. They may think that they reduce the time we can respond because the weekend is really upon us then. They probably assume that we’ve already gone home for the weekend.
Of course, we know the pattern so we always stay until after 5:00 on Fridays. In any event, the letter identifies two of the groups of individuals impacted by the June 12, 2012, Sivia ruling and proposes a timeline to sort out what will happen with each group.
The Legal Services Branch is responsible for defending the Petitions we have filed for our clients appealing the IRP review decisions and, in the case of people who did not file for a review before the OSMV in the 7-day period, the actual IRPs themselves.
The two groups identified in the letter are:
1) People who have already served the prohibition and who have filed a Petition in court which has caused the RDP, interlock and fines to be deferred; and
2) People who served part of the prohibition and who have filed a Petition in court effectively staying the balance of the prohibition, RDP, interlock and fines.
The proposal is that we review each file to determine if there is another basis to appeal the matter. The letter suggests that they believe that the only options available for appeal are administrative in nature, i.e. that all Charter issues are resolved by Sivia.
With respect to the first group, people who have already served the prohibition, the letter states that if we do not advance the Petition on behalf of our clients by September 21, 2012, they will tell their friends in the OSMV to pull the licenses of everyone and make them pay the fines, install the interlock and register for the Responsible Drivers Program.
With respect to the second group, i.e. people who had their prohibitions and everything else lifted pending their appeal or the decision in Sivia, the OSMV will get the word from their friends in the Legal Services Branch and start pulling licences, requiring the Interlock, etc. as of November 30, 2012, when the orders we filed for our clients expire.
So the key thing you need to know is that, if no further legal work is done on your Petition and you are in the first group, you will face all of the IRP punishment as of September 21, 2012.
If you are in the second group, as of November 30, 2012, you are again prohibited from driving and you must get the Interlock, pay the fines and sign up for the RDP if we are not pressing ahead with your appeal.
We were already reviewing every person’s file more or less on the basis of these two groups. Now that we have a timeline, we will contact each of our clients over the summer to discuss the options available.
This is the important IRP update that everyone has been expecting. We will post further updates in the next two weeks so everyone has an idea where they fit, what other options are available and what happens in the event of appeals of the Sivia rulings.