OTTAWA MEN'S CENTRE

LEGAL RESOURCES

ONTARIO COURT  OF APPEAL JUDGES

The Honourable Justice Karen M. Weiler

Official Bio - Unofficial follows - then you can read about her 71% bias in favour of mothers on an issue of custody. When it comes to costs. Success as decided by cost penalties a woman has 97% chance of wining costs.

Official Biographical

of

Justice Karen M. Weiler

Justice Weiler received her B.A. from the University of Saskatchewan and her LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1967. After articling with Blake, Cassels & Graydon, she was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1969. She practised law with Weiler, Weiler and Maloney in Thunder Bay until 1972 when she returned to Toronto and entered the LL.M. program at Osgoode Hall. She received her LL.M. in 1974. She was counsel for the Ministry of the Attorney General and later became Senior Counsel in the Policy Development Division. Appointed to the former District Court of Ontario in 1980, and to the Ontario High Court, February 21, 1989, Justice Weiler was appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal on March 12, 1992. She was appointed to the Court Martial Appeal Court on July 26, 1995. Justice Weiler is fluent in French and presides over appeals in the French language. Over the course of her twenty-four years on the bench, and now twelve years as an appellate judge, Justice Weiler has written judgments in all areas of from, both criminal and civil.

Justice Weiler has been a director of the American Judicature Society, the Canadian Judges Conference, and the International Association of Women Judges – Canadian Chapter. She has also served on the Justice Minister’s Advisory Committee for Judicial Appointments. She was one of seven judges from Canada chosen to participate in the first Canadian American Legal Exchange led by the respective Chief Justices of Canada and the United States.

Justice Weiler is a frequent guest speaker and lecturer. Groups to which she has given lectures include the Canadian Judges Conference, the Ontario Superior Court Judges Conference, the Law Society of Upper Canada Continuing Legal Education programs, the Canadian Bar Association, at the Provincial and National levels, the Advocates’ Society, the Crown Attorneys Association, the Association of Women and the Law and the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall law schools.

In June 2001, Justice Weiler completed the mediation training program in dispute resolution, workplace conflict and public policy issues by CDR Associates of Boulder, Colorado. This service is now offered by the Court of Appeal as a voluntary option to litigants who request it. In November 2001, she completed the Stitt Feld Handy Group Advanced ADR Workshop.

 

REALITY CHECK 

Judicial Bias at the Court of Appeal 2007 

By Peter Karl Roscoe

 Ottawa

Apr 2006,

Revised Sept 2007

For Justice Karen M. Weiler 47 family cases were available, and 41 of them had data on cost penalties. The cases and their outcomes can be found in Appendix A6. A summary of the decisions is as follows

 

Appellant

Custody

 Access

 Mobility

 Spousal

 Support

  Child

 Support

Equalization

Other

Costs

Number of Males

     5

     2

     1

     13

     11

          7

   15

    41

Number of Male Wins

     0

     0

     0

      3

      3

          2

    3

     1

 

Appellant

Custody

 Access

Mobility

 Spousal

 Support

  Child

 Support

Equalization

Other

Costs

Number of Females

     2

     0

     2

      7

      7

          4

    7

     41

Number of Female Wins

     1

     0

     1

      7

      5

          4

    4

     28

 

Summarized in percentage terms

 

Appellant

Custody

 Access

Mobility

 Spousal

 Support

  Child

 Support

Equalization

Other

Costs

% Chance of Male Win

     0.0

    0.0

      0.0

    23.0

    27.3

       28.6

  20.0

    2.4

% Chance of Female Win

   50.0

    NA

    50.0

   100.0

    71.4

      100.0

  57.1

   68.3

 

It can be concluded that on a family issue a woman has a (50/70 x 100) 71.4 % chance of winning, and a man has a (12/91 x 100) 13.1 % % chance of winning when appearing before a panel with Justice Weiler on it. Success as decided by cost penalties assigned was 2.4 % in favor of men, 68.3 % in favor of females and divided 29.3 % of the time.

 

 Appendix A

 

Legend

 Sex of Lawyer                     M = Male                       F = Female                 Sr = Self Represented

                                                     (m) = Hired by the Man             (f) = Hired by the woman

 

Cost Penalty              (w) Woman Wins         (m) = Man Wins         nc = No Costs  

                           

                                                           res = Reserved for Trial

 

 

Sex of Appellant                                M = Man                           W = Woman

                              

 

Grounds                        (W) = Win            C = Custody             M = Mobility            CS = Child Support

of Appeal

 or Cross                        (L) = Lose            A = Access                O = Other                  SS = Spousal Support

  Appeal

                                                       EQ = Equalization

  

Panel Judge 1 or 2           Alb = Abella JA                   Fld = Feldman JA               Char = Charron JA

 

                                          Sim = Simmons JA              Wlr = Weiler JA                   Lng = Lang JA

 

                                                McM = McMurtry  former CJO            OCnr = O’Connor DCJO

 

                                         Gdge = Goudge JA               Arm = Arstrong JA                Brn = Borin JA

 

                                  Mcfd = Macfarland JA         Macp = Macphearson JA        Gil = Gillese JA

 

                                   Crnk = Cronk JA                  Catz = Catzman JA              Mold = Moldaver JA

 

                                   Lbse = Labrosse JA               Shrp = Sharp JA                 Rsbg = Rosenberg JA

 

 Appendix A6 — Cases Examined for Justice Weiler

 

Sex of Lawyer ( wining / losing)

Cost Penalty (sex of wining appellant)

 

 

Sex.  of appellant

 Grounds of Appeal             .    ( Win/Lose )

Cross. Appeal.  (Win / Lose )

Panel Judge   .  1

Panel Judge .  2

 

 

(w)

1999

Babij v Babij (March 19)

   W

 (W) SS, EQ, O

 

McM

Gdge

F v m

(w) 6200

2003

Ballentine v Ballentine (June 27)

   M

 (L) SS, O

 

McM

Mcph

 

 

2002

Bjornson v Creighton (November 19)

   W

 (L) M

(L) C

Lask

Ast

M v m

(m) 3500

1999

Brans v Brans (May 14)

   W

 (L) CS, O

 

Drty

Rsbg

F v sr

nc

2004

Brown v Ferguson (November 30)

   M

 (L) CS, SS

 

Arm

Blr

F v m

(w)

2002

Chan v Lam (March 26)

   W

 (W) EQ, O

 

Crnk

Crty

F v m

(w)

2001

Cho v Cho (October 5)

  W

 (W) CS

 

Find

Osbn

 

nc

2003

Contino v Leonelli – Contino (October 28)

   M

 (W) CS

(W) CS

OCnr

 Rsbg

F v f

nc

1997

Davidson v Davidson (March 4)

   M

 (W) EQ

(W) CS

Osbn

Lbse

F v sr

(w) 960

2006

Dhanna v Dhanna (March 8)

   M

 (L) O

 

Blr

Roul

M v sr

(w) 5000

2005

Garvey v Chiarelli (July5)

   M

 (L) C, A, CS, O

(L) CS

Lng

Mold

M v m

nc

1994

Gleich v Kunde (March 25)

   M

 (W) SS, O    (L) CS

 

Hould

Good

M v m

(w) 10000

2005

Greenberg v Daniels (January 17)

   M

 (L) SS

 

Sim

Mold

M v m

nc

2004

Horner v Horner (October 21)

   W

 (W) CS, SS

(W) SS

Blr

Rsb

M v m

nc

1996

Huisman v Huisman (June 14)

   M

 (W) SS,EQ

 

McM

Catz

M v m

(w)

2001

Hutchinson v Hutchinson ( January 15)

   W

(W) EQ

 

Lasl

Char

 

(w) 5000

1998

Irwin v. Irwin (September 10)

   M

 (L) C, A

 

Alb

OCnr

F v m (m)

nc

2006

Jordan v Jordan (January 17)

   M

 (W) O

 

Lask

Rsbg

F v m

(w) 10000

2005

Kaplanis v Kaplanis (January 31)

   W

 (W) C

(L) EQ

Arm

Blr

M v m

(w) 9000

2002

Klerides v Klerides (May 30)

   M

 (W) CS, SS    (L) EQ

 

Sim

Gdge

F v m(m)

nc

2003

K(MS) v T(TL) (February)

   W

 (W) O

 

Catz

Mold

 

 

2004

Korutowska – Wooff v Wooff (August 4)

   M

 (L) C

 

Fld

 

F v f

nc

2005

Ladisa v Ladisa (January 31)

   W

 (W)CS,SS    (L) C

 

Blr

Arm

F v m

(w)

2001

Lamarche v Crevier (November 9)

   M

(W)EQ   (L)CS, SS

 

Fld

Lbse

M v m

(w)

1998

Luckhurst v Luckhurst (June 4)

   M

 (L) M

 

Osbn, Hould

Mck, Dub

F v m

(w) 35000

2003

Marinangeli v Marinangeli (July 11)

   M

 (W) CS    (L) CS, SS

 

OCnr

Rsbg

M v m

(w) 7000

1996

Merklinger v Merklinger (November 20)

   M

 (L)CS,  SS, EQ

 

Osbn

Lbse

F v m

(w)

1997

Politi v Politi (April 18)

   M

 (L) CS, EQ, O

 

Lask

Alb

F v f

nc

1999

Rechsteiner v Kendall (October 25)

   W

 (W) M

 

Lbse

Gdge

M v m

(w) 24000

2002

Roseneck v Gowling (December 24)

   M

 (W) O

(L) SS

Arm

Catz

F v m

(w)

1999

Bennet v Bennet (June 16)

   M

(L) O

 

Char

Brke

M v m

(w)

 

Boa v Boa (Novemeber 18)

   M

(L) EQ

 

Osbn

Lbse

F v f

(w) 3000

2002

Boucher v Boucher (June 9)

   M

(L) O

 

Lask

Gdge

M v m

nc

2004

Boudreau v Boudreau (April 14)

   W

(L) O

 

Alb

Arm

F v sr

(w) 5000

2006

Abosh v White ( December 7)

   M

(L) O

 

Gdge

Sim

 

 

2006

Kukanova v Kukanova (January 10)

   M

(L) SS

 

Lask

Rsbg

Sr v sr

(w) 1621

2007

Laurin v Martin (April 5)

   M

(L) O

 

Lafm

Mcph

F v m

(w) 6000

2007

Loit v Gove (May 8)

M

(L) SS, O

 

Feld

Lafm

 

nc

1996

Adams v Adams (November 19)

   W

(W) O

 

Osbn

Lbrse

 

 

1996

Pollack v Pollack (May 7)

   M

(L) SS

 

Lask

Arb

M v sr

(w)

1999

Teeple v Teeple (September 24)

   W

(W) SS

 

Gdge

Lbse

F v m (w)

nc

2005

Goeldner v Goeldner (January 13)

   W

(W) SS    (L) O

 

Sim

 Mold

Sr v sr

(w) 2888

2007

Maphangoh v Maphangoh (June 11)

   M

(L) SS, O

 

Mold

Blr

M v m

(w) 5500

2006

Cook v Sacco (October 18)

   M

(L) C, CS, SS

 

Blr

Roul

M v m

(w) 3500

2006

Shea v Fraser (December 5)

   M

(W) EQ       (L) CS

 

Gdge

Crnk

M v f

(w)

1997

Forler v Forler (April 7)

   W

(W) SS

 

Wlr

Hldn

F v f

 

1997

Therrien – Cliché v Cliché (April 1)

   M

 (L) O

 

Feld

Lbse

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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