Canadian Lawyer

44 A U G U S T 2 0 1 7 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m he spectre of the "curious busybody" is going to be before the Supreme Court of Canada again this fall in an appeal stemming from a complaint about an airline's poli- cies in dealing with passengers who are obese. The court will be asked to clarify the law of public interest stand- ing in an administrative context and more specifically whether individuals must be directly impacted by a prac- tice or policy to be permitted to have their complaint heard by the oversight agency. An added twist to Delta Air Lines Inc. v. Gábor Lukács is that the respondent is a self-represented litigant. The Halifax- based mathematician has filed more than two-dozen complaints in recent years with the Canadian Transporta- tion Agency as a consumer advocate for airline passengers. In many cases, his complaints have been successful and a whole body of case law in this area has developed, based on decisions by the agency and the Federal Court. The Supreme Court has appointed Benja- min Zarnett, a senior litigation partner at Goodmans LLP, as amicus curiae to assist with the Delta Air Lines case. Beyond the unusual circumstances of how the initial complaint made its way to the Supreme Court, the case will be of interest to administrative tribu- nals in general, says Justin Safayeni, a lawyer at Stockwoods LLP in Toronto. "I think the Supreme Court has dealt with standing in the context of court cases. The question is how what has been developed for the courts can be applied to an administrative agency," says Safayeni, whose practice involves administrative and constitutional law litigation. A sign that there may be broader implications to what will be decided by the court is that a number of groups are seeking to intervene. The Attorney General of Ontario, the Council of Can- adians with Disabilities, the Canadian Transportation Agency and the Inter- national Air Transport Association, an industry trade organization, have all filed intervener applications. The case originated in 2014 when Lukács filed a complaint with the agency alleging that some policies of Delta Air Lines were discriminatory toward obese passengers. One of the stated mandates of the agency is "consumer protection" for air travellers. If a complaint is not resolved, it is adjudicated by a panel made up of one or more of its five mem- bers — who are federally appointed and L E G A L R E P O RT \ L I T I G AT I O N HUAN TRAN Expanding public interest standing Who can intervene in the administrative context will be tested at the Supreme Court By Shannon Kari T

• Cover