Court Of Queen's Bench Clarifies Law On Academic Disputes In Al-Bakkal v. de Vries, 2016 MBQB 45

Students throughout Canada commonly sue post-secondary educational institutions with respect to academic matters. Actions brought by students against their university or college are almost universally framed in terms of breach of contract, negligence, and/or breach of fiduciary duty.

These claims are frequently subject to motions to strike on the basis that the statements of claim do not disclose a reasonable cause of action or for a lack of jurisdiction. However, in recent years, the outcome of these motions to strike have become inconsistent and unpredictable.

The recent decision of Chief Justice Joyal in Al-Bakkal v. de Vries et. al., 2016 MBQB 45 provides a welcome clarification of the law in a heavily-litigated area. This decision provides significant assistance to post-secondary educational institutions who are the subject of litigation related to academic matters.

Prior to 2006, actions relating to academic matters were routinely dismissed by way of motions to strike. For example, in Warraich v. University of Manitoba, 2003 MBCA 58, the Manitoba Court of Appeal struck out a claim on the basis that the inherent jurisdiction of the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench had been displaced by the University's statutory dispute resolution regime.

In Bella v. Young, 2006 SCC 3, the Supreme Court of Canada clarified that universities may owe students concurrent duties in contract and in tort. This decision did not fit easily within the framework established by Warraich and the numerous cases that followed.

As a result, courts began to struggle with the application of the Warraich framework to claims that were pled on the basis of contract and tort. For example, in Hozaima v. Perry, 2010 MBCA 21, the Manitoba Court of Appeal upheld the dismissal of a motion to strike and allowed an action for damages relating to the plaintiff's inability to complete a degree in dentistry to proceed.

The Ontario Court of Appeal in Gauthier c. Saint-Germain, 2010 ONCA 309 and Jaffer v. York University, 2010 ONCA 654 held that a properly pled claim framed in contract or tort could be allowed to proceed, even if the claim related to matters that are academic in nature. These decisions constituted a significant change in course from a number of previous Ontario decisions which were consistent with Warraich. See for example: Wong v. University of Toronto, (1992) 4 Admin. L.R. (2d) 95 (O.N.C.A.), Dawson v. University of Toronto, 2007 ONCA 875, and Zabo v. University of...