A York Region justice of the peace who once admitted in a discipline proceeding that she failed to know and apply the law is again facing scrutiny over her rulings.

A provincial court judge was kept busy earlier this month hearing prosecution appeals of rulings by justice of the peace Adele Romagnoli. At least three appeals were heard on Nov. 1, and each resulted in Romagnoli’s ruling being overturned.

One had to do with Romagnoli refusing to accept a joint submission in a traffic case, in which both sides proposed a $500 fine. She instead reduced the fine to $350.

Courts have held that joint submissions should not be rejected unless they are contrary to the public interest or so egregious that they would harm the administration of justice.

This was not the first time Romagnoli was taken to task for refusing to accept a joint submission. As Ontario Court judge David Rose noted in his ruling overturning Romagnoli, the JP had been cautioned by a judge in a different case four years ago that her arbitrary rejections of joint submissions “must not continue.”

“It appears that it has,” Rose concluded in his judgment.

Romagnoli, who was appointed to the bench in 1992, declined the Star’s request for comment. A court spokesperson said she continues to hear cases.

Romagnoli landed before a discipline panel of the Justices of the Peace Review Council in 2018, in part over her refusal to accept joint submissions in a number of cases several years ago. At the time, Romagnoli admitted to judicial misconduct, agreeing that she failed to “know, apply, and maintain competence in the law.”

She agreed she would take additional training, including being taught the law on joint submissions. The public picked up her $33,000 legal tab for those discipline proceedings after Attorney General Doug Downey approved a recommendation by the discipline panel that she receive compensation for legal costs.

It’s unclear what the training entailed or when and if Romagnoli received it.

“The court does not comment publicly on individual judicial decisions or individual judicial education,” court spokesperson Jill Arthur told the Star.

Justices of the peace are appointed by the provincial government and earn approximately $132,000 a year. Clad in black robes and green sashes, they preside over bail hearings and cases dealing with non-criminal matters known as provincial offences, as well as sign off on search warrants.

In the traffic case involving the joint submission, it was an “error in principle” for Romagnoli to “undercut” that submission without asking for submissions from the prosecution and defence, the appeal judge found.

Among her reasoning to reduce the fine, Romagnoli had noted the defendant had pleaded guilty early in the process to a charge of “leaving the roadway not in safety,” saving court time. She also said the $500 proposed by both sides did not include the mandatory victim fine surcharge, and so should be reduced, according to an excerpt included in the appeal ruling.

Rose also overturned Romagnoli in two other traffic cases this month. In one case, Romagnoli had acquitted a man of speeding and referred to a lack of evidence about the visibility of the police officer who spotted the speeding car. The officer had testified it was foggy but that he only saw one car and could see 400 metres to the east and west.

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“Her Worship’s finding that fog supported an acquittal is not entitled to deference,” Rose wrote in his appeal ruling, overturning the acquittal and entering a conviction.

Finally, Rose also convicted a man who Romagnoli acquitted of driving without insurance.