A judge has stayed charges against Executive Flight Centre in the July 2013 fuel spill at Lemon Creek.
This morning Lisa Mrozinksi ruled that it took too long for the case against the company to come to trial.
She said the clock started ticking when Marilyn Burgoon laid charges under a private prosecution in 2014, not when a public prosecutor laid its own charges in 2016.
That means their charter rights were violated under what’s known as the Jordan decision, which said anything more than 18 months between charges being laid and a verdict being delivered is unreasonable.
She also found that the Crown did not demonstrate the delays were beyond its control.
But Burgoon says she’s disappointed with the ruling and doesn’t blame the Crown.
However the trial will still go ahead against the BC government and the company’s driver, Danny LaSante.
The government didn’t make a similar application for a stay while LaSante’s laywer plans to but hasn’t yet.
All three defendants faced eight environmental and fisheries act charges after a truck overturned and spilled 33-thousand litres of jet fuel into the creek.