By Martin F. Sheehan and Nikolas Blanchette
The civil law has recognized for some time that a party to a telephone conversation can record the conversation and use it in connection with civil litigation unless the use of such evidence would tend to bring the administration of justice into disrepute [1]. It is also recognized that a party cannot intercept a private communication between third parties and use it as evidence before the court[2].
What if a conversation between third parties is recorded by the police as part of a criminal investigation? Can a party to a civil dispute request the disclosure of such recordings and use them as evidence? The Supreme Court of Canada partially answers this question in Imperial Oil v. Jacques, 2014 SCC 66.

The facts

To carry out the “Octane” investigation into allegations of a conspiracy to fix gasoline pump prices in … Continue reading “Supreme Court recalls broad principles regarding the disclosure of evidence held by a third party in Quebec civil law”