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TORONTO — Canada’s top court has paved the way for a pair of separate civil lawsuits to proceed by affirming earlier rulings that two men alleging police assaulted them were justified in waiting for their criminal proceedings to end before suing.

In decisions released on Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear appeals by police in Woodstock who argued the plaintiffs had waited too long to sue them.

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In both cases, judges initially threw out the claims on the basis that the clock had started running on the date the plaintiffs were arrested and allegedly assaulted. However, those decisions were overturned on appeal, prompting the police to ask the Supreme Court to intervene.

The first case involved Robert Winmill, who police charged with assaulting an officer and resisting arrest after a struggle at his home on June 1, 2014. He was acquitted of both charges in February 2016 and issued his notice of action against the officers for battery on June 2, 2016 — a day outside the legally prescribed two-year window.