TransAlta Corporation (TransAlta) obtained permission to appeal a decision of the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC).

At the Permission Application, the AUC argued that the decision under consideration was interlocutory in nature, and that practice and policy reasons prohibited appeals of interlocutory decisions. The permission Judge allowed the appeal on the basis that there would be duplication of efforts and expense for the parties in the AUC proceeding.

Writing for the majority, Watson and Crighton JJA dismissed TransAlta’s appeal. Justice O’Ferrall concurred in the result.

O’Ferrall JA confirmed that Rule 14.5(1)(c) and the jurisprudence precluded the Court of Appeal from reviewing interlocutory rulings absent exceptional circumstances. Rule 14.5(1)(c) provides that appeals from any ruling before the conclusion of a trial to the Court of Appeal are prohibited unless permission to appeal is obtained. The jurisprudence related to obtaining such permission was similar to that articulated by the AUC. Without the finding of an exceptional circumstance, appellate intervention was premature.