BCSC UPHOLDS CONSENT AGREEMENT

The Association received a serious complaint about a member’s work. A Discipline Hearing was scheduled, but the Association and member reached an agreement known as a “Stipulated Order” beforehand. In this agreement, the member acknowledged that he understood the legal implications of entering into it without a hearing. Among other things, he consented to a peer review, a practice review (both at his own expense) and to pay costs of nearly $40,000.00 over time.

The agreement contained an interesting provision whereby a member of the Discipline Committee, known as the “Reviewing Member”, oversaw the member’s compliance with it. If he determined that the member failed to comply with its terms, he had the power to impose further conditions, or suspend or revoke the members license to practice.

The member cancelled the practice review and made a change regarding his peer review. As a result, the reviewing member imposed further conditions on the reviews.

The member then challenged the agreement in Court on the basis that the Association had acted outside its jurisdiction in implementing the Stipulated Order process. He argued that since the Stipulated Order procedure was not contained in the legislation, the agreement was invalid.

The Judge rejected this argument and upheld the Agreement. She found that the agreement was a contract because it was reached by a consensual process. She pointed out that the Association had taken great care to implement an alternate dispute process that was fair and thorough. Since the member had agreed to it, and there was no reason to conclude that he had been improperly treated, the agreement was upheld.


Salway v The Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia, [2008] BCSC 803