JUDGE APOLOGIZES FOR FAILURE TO EXPLAIN JUDGMENTS

An Ontario Superior Court justice who repeatedly failed to provide reasons for her judgments has apologized and mended her ways, the Canadian Judicial Council said Thursday. In closing its review of Justice Susanne Goodman without sanctioning her, the council said the issue has been satisfactorily addressed and a “number of accommodations and remedial measures” had been implemented. Nova Scotia Chief Justice Michael MacDonald, the chairman of the council’s judicial conduct committee, undertook the review after Ontario’s highest court made blistering comments against Goodman in a decision in May last year. In its ruling, the Court of Appeal overturned the acquittal of a man accused of beating and sexually assaulting a woman, and expressed dismay at Goodman’s repeated failure to provide reasons for the acquittal.