Robert P. Armstrong

Robert Patrick Armstrong

Armstrong was commission counsel in the 1981 Grange Commission on Railway Safety, which was formed to study the 1979 Mississauga train derailment.^[3][4][5] According to the Los Angeles Times, Armstrong's "tenacious grilling" of witnesses in the Grange Commission bolstered his reputation.^[6]

Armstrong served as lead counsel for the 1989

Armstrong was appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal on January 25, 2002.^[2][3] He was one of the last judges on the Court of Appeal to not have previously held a judicial position, which was previously a widespread practice for federal appointments.^[13] In October 2002, Armstrong was awarded a Doctor of Law (LLD) honorary degree by the Law Society of Upper Canada for his contributions to Canadian law.^[3][14]

In December 2008, Armstrong wrote the majority decision upholding a lower court's decision that unions cannot force courts to enforce fines it imposes on its members who cross

In February 2013, Armstrong, supported by the other two Court of Appeal judges hearing the case, dismissed the appeal in R v Fearon. Armstrong wrote that Fearon's right to privacy was not violated because a cellphone without password protection can be searched by police during an arrest without a warrant.^[22][23] Armstrong's decision was appealed to the Supreme Court, which dismissed the appeal in a 4–3 decision in 2014.^[24]

Armstrong became a supernumerary judge for the court in September 2012, and was replaced as a full-time judge by Peter Lauwers from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.^[25] Armstrong retired in March 2013 upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75.^[1][3][26]

Post-judicial career

A year after retiring from the Court of Appeal in 2013, Armstrong joined Arbitration Place, a Canadian arbitration firm,^[27] as a resident arbitrator and mediator.^[28] Armstrong was also a  Distinguished Visiting Jurist for the 2013 – 2014 school year at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law.^[29]

References