What is the test for reversing a discretionary decision by a lower court?
Ontario, Canada
The following excerpt is from R.G. v. The Hospital for Sick Children, 2018 ONSC 7058 (CanLII):
Reversing a lower court's discretionary decision is also appropriate where the lower court gives no or insufficient weight to relevant considerations: Friends of the Oldman River Society v. Canada (Minister of Transport), 1992 CanLII 110 (SCC), [1992] 1 S.C.R. 3, at pp. 76-77. That is, the appellate court must defer to a judge’s exercise of discretion unless she makes an error in law - adopting the wrong legal principle or giving insufficient weight to a relevant factor - or if her decision is clearly wrong. The appeal court cannot substitute its own judgment in place of the judgment call made by the judge whose decision is under review unless the judge made such an error.
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