VANCOUVER - Taser International will be able to proceed with its legal challenge of a British Columbia public inquiry report prompted by the death of Robert Dziekanski, after a judge ruled against the province's application to have the case dismissed.
In a written decision released Monday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Robert Sewell found that the B.C. Attorney General had not proved that the Arizona-based company's petition would surely fail, or that it had no right to judicial review.
"In this case, it seems to me that the report and recommendations of the Study Commission could have important commercial implications for the petitioner," the judge wrote, noting that he was not saying that it does or does not -- just that it could.
The province had wanted the court to toss out Taser's court action against the report released last year by inquiry commissioner Thomas Braidwood.
Sewell noted that Taser's accusations that the report findings are not based on the evidence presented have not been tested in court, but his ruling means they will be.
But the judge also rapped Taser for "unnecessary, scandalous and vexatious" allegations of bias made against inquiry commission lawyer Art Vertlieb, and Dr. Keith Chambers, a physician who helped the commissioner interpret much of the medical information submitted as evidence.
He called the allegations against the two an "abuse of process."
"I conclude that the allegations here are motivated at least in part by a desire to embarrass Mr. Vertlieb and Dr. Chambers," Sewell wrote, and dismissed the company's petition for a declaration against the men.
Taser has a history of aggressive legal action in defending its products and last year boasted that it had won its 100th dismissal of a liability lawsuit.
The report released last year concluded that Tasers can kill, and made a host of recommendations on restricting their use.
The report released last year after the first phase of the inquiry found that shock weapons pose a risk of serious injury or death and set out recommendations for their use, including a caution against multiple stuns.
Both the B.C. Solicitor General and the RCMP endorsed the recommendations, which have already been implemented in the province.
The public inquiry was prompted by Dziekanski's death in October 2007, after a confrontation with RCMP.
Police had been summoned after an agitated Dziekanski began throwing furniture around, and within seconds of the four officers' arrival, he had been jolted several times with a Taser.
The would-be migrant from Poland died on the floor of the airport in front of stunned witnesses.
The first phase of the inquiry looked at the use of shock weapons in general by law enforcement agencies in B.C.
The second phase of the inquiry, which wrapped up last fall, looked specifically into Dziekanski's death. The report from that phase hasn't been released, but is expected to be out by this summer.
