Here's a look at the leave application decisions that the Supreme Court of Canada will be releasing on February 17, 2022.

Each week, we'll be providing a short blog post that summarizes some of the upcoming cases and gives a prediction of the probability that leave will be granted. These predictions will be based on our proprietary machine learning model and dataset of every leave application decision released by the Supreme Court of Canada from January 1, 2018 onward.

Each week, we'll group cases into four categories:

  • Cases to Watch  – These are cases where our model predicts greater than a 25% chance that leave will be granted. These cases have a much better than average chance that leave will be granted. While this doesn't mean that all of them will get leave, they are worth watching as strong candidates.
  • Possible Contenders – These are cases where our model predicts between a 5% and 25% chance that leave will be granted. These cases have an average to somewhat above-average chance of getting leave. While most cases in this category won't get leave, on average, we expect to see a healthy minority of cases in this category being granted leave.
  • Unlikely Contenders  – These are cases where our model predicts between a 1% and 5% chance that the case will get leave. The safe bet is against leave being granted in these cases, but we do expect to see it from time to time.
  • Long-Shots – These are cases where our model predicts a less than 1% chance that the case will get leave. Although it will happen from time to time, it would be an outlier for our model for these cases to be granted leave. We will not be providing summaries for these cases.

If this is your first time reading our weekly SCC leave predictions blog, have a look at an explanation and caveats about our model here.

 

THIS WEEK'S CASES

There are 14 leave application decisions coming out on February 17, 2022. Our model only predicts the probabilities of successful leave applications in cases where leave was sought from the Court of Appeal. We will not comment or provide a prediction on cases where leave was sought directly from a Superior Court decision or on cases in which we are involved. That leaves 14 cases in which we'll give a prediction.

You can find a detailed summary of all of the cases that are up for leave decisions this week here.

 

Cases to Watch

Her Majesty the Queen v John Drinkwater

  • Our Model's Prediction: This case has a 63% chance of getting leave.

Her Majesty the Queen v Angel Arsenio Goldson

  • Our Model's Prediction: This case has a 35% chance of getting leave.

 

Possible Contenders

Coroner en chef du Québec c Arnaud Duhamel

  • Our Model's Prediction: This case has a 23% chance of getting leave.

Her Majesty the Queen v Terry Wayne Simon

  • Our Model's Prediction: This case has a 12% chance of getting leave.

Robert John Sheppard v Her Majesty the Queen

  • Our Model's Prediction: This case has a 9% chance of getting leave.

Charlesfort Developments Limited v Corporation of the City of Ottawa

  • Our Model's Prediction: This case has an 8% chance of getting leave.

 

Unlikely Contenders

BGA inc c Telus Mobilité

  • Our Model's Prediction: This case has a 5% chance of getting leave.

Steve Larrivée c Sa Majesté la Reine

  • Our Model's Prediction: This case has a 2% chance of getting leave.

Kevin Joseph Layes v Dr. Matthew Bowes

  • Our Model's Prediction: This case has a 2% chance of getting leave.

Robin Cirillo v Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Ontario

  • Our Model's Prediction: This case has a 2% chance of getting leave.

 

Long-Shots

Hachmi Hammami c Agence du revenu du Québec

  • Our Model's Prediction: This case has a less than 1% chance of getting leave.

Arthur Trzciakowski v Estate of the late Veronica Kalimbet Piela

  • Our Model's Prediction: This case has a less than 1% chance of getting leave.

Stanley D. Mager v Sternthal Montigny Greenberg St-Germain, LLP (previously known as Sternthal Katznelson Montigny, LLP)

  • Our Model's Prediction: This case has a less than 1% chance of getting leave.

Gerald Quaye v Law Society of Alberta

  • Our Model's Prediction: This case has a less than 1% chance of getting leave.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.