(ADAM PROSKIW / iNFOnews.ca)

A Kelowna RCMP officer who purposely opted to take a medical discharge so he could then take a job as a civilian working for the RCMP is suing after the job fell through.

According to a Notice of Claim filed at the Supreme Court of BC in Kelowna April 28, Christopher William Brinnen was promised a job working as a civilian for the RCMP developing training programs for dog handlers.

The court documents say Brinnen had 24 years of service in the RCMP largely working as a dog handler.

However, in 2020 he was in a car crash while on duty and his injuries resulted in him being put on desk duty as he was no longer able to work with dogs.

He was then offered a job by RCMP District Operations Officer for the Southeast District Insp. Perry Smith. The inspector said the RCMP was going to create the position for him to develop a dog training program.

The court documents say he was given the choice to either remain as a full-time RCMP officer or take a medical discharge from the RCMP and start the new job as a civilian.

"The... position had some advantages, including Brinnen would make the same if not more salary and start creating a second pension," the Notice of Claim says.

Brinnen then took the medical discharge.

However, the job didn't start and months later he was then told the job wasn't his.

The former RCMP officer accuses Inspector Smith of giving him "false and misleading" information and making "untrue, inaccurate and misleading representations."

Brinnen points out he now doesn't have his RCMP salary or the job that was promised.

"A reasonably prudent and skeptical person in Brinnen's position would have been led by Smith's words to believe that he had an assurance of Smith's taking reasonable care, equivalent in weight to Smith's promise implicit in those words, that the new... position for Brinnen existed if he chose to leave the RCMP," the Notice of Claim states.

The court documents say Brinnen was "induced" to apply for a medical discharge to then take up the new position which was supposed to start the very next day.

The court documents don't say if Brinnen was given a lump sum when he took the medical discharge, or what the rate of pay for his new civilian job was going to be.

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Brinnen names the Attorney General of Canada, The Treasury Board of Canada, and the BC Attorney General in the suit.

He's claiming damages for "negligent misrepresentation" along with damages for loss of salary, bonuses, benefits and pension, among others.

In 2012 Brinnen made headlines when he was found guilty of punching a man in the face outside a Kelowna nightclub. A judge later gave him an absolute discharge, meaning he didn't get a criminal record.

None of the allegations have been proven in court. None of the defendants have yet filed a notice of defence.

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Neither the BC Attorney General nor Brinnen's lawyer was immediately available for comment.

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