Simon's Megalomaniacal Legal Resources

Contempt - Standard of Proof

. Deeproot Green Infrastructure, LLC v. Greenblue Urban North America Inc.

In Deeproot Green Infrastructure, LLC v. Greenblue Urban North America Inc. (Fed CA, 2023) the Federal Court of Appeal considered the 'reasonable doubt' test for contempt, here in a patent infringment case:

III. The Federal Court’s Contempt Decision

[29] The Federal Court was not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that GreenBlue was in contempt of the injunction, with the result that DeepRoot’s contempt motion was dismissed.

[30] In coming to the conclusion that DeepRoot’s motion should be dismissed, the Federal Court applied the test for contempt established by the Supreme Court in Carey v. Laiken, 2015 SCC 17. There, the Supreme Court confirmed that the test for civil contempt has the following three elements that must be established beyond a reasonable doubt:

(1) The order alleged to have been breached must state clearly and unequivocally what should and should not be done;

(2) The alleged contemnor must have had knowledge of the order; and

(3) The alleged contemnor must have intentionally carried out the act that the order prohibits or failed to carry out the act that the order requires (at paras. 33-35).