The Supreme Court of B.C. has dismissed a lawsuit filed by former Nanaimo CFO Victor Mema, which claimed that he had been wrongfully dismissed.
The lawsuit also said the city was in breach of contract, breach of the duties of good faith and honest performance, intentional infliction of mental suffering and procedural failures relating to that dismissal.
Mema was suspended with pay by the city in March 2018 for using his city credit card on personal purchases.
He was then fired two months later, with the city claiming that Mema had used the municipal credit card for more than $14,100 in personal expenses, including “an almost $1,300 charge incurred in Cancun, Mexico, while he was on vacation there,” according to the ruling by Justice Ian Caldwell, which was released Wednesday.
Mema filed a civil lawsuit in the Supreme Court of B.C. in 2021, arguing that the city did not give him enough notice before his termination, that the municipality did not properly follow the procedures set out within its misconduct policy, and that there was never an investigation into any of the allegations.
The city responded with its own lawsuit, arguing that it had cause to fire Mema, and that his lawsuit came after the six-month limit on such claims can be made, under the Local Government Act.
The city called for Mema’s lawsuit to be dismissed, and while Caldwall agreed that the six-month limit did apply to some of the claims, including the wrongful dismissal claim, it did not apply to all of Mema’s allegations, including breach of the duty of good faith and honest performance, and intentional infliction of mental suffering
“Whether these alleged acts occurred and, if so, whether damages flowed from them, are matters to be determined at trial,” wrote Caldwell.
With files from Nicholas Pescod
Adam Chan
