An alleged drunken altercation at an Arizona resort has landed a Canadian Supreme Court justice on paid leave.
According to a police case report filed in January, a US Marine Corps veteran claimed that Justice Russell Brown engaged in the "unwanted touching" of a female guest at the resort that month.
The veteran said he later punched Mr Brown "a few times" during an argument.
Mr Brown has denied the claims and called the account "demonstrably false".
Earlier this month, the Canadian Judicial Council announced it was reviewing a complaint received in January into Mr Brown's alleged conduct in Arizona. He has been on leave since 1 February as the judicial oversight body looks into the matter.
There are differing accounts of the incident, which took place while Mr Brown, 57, was staying at the luxury Omni Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Montelucia, attending a gala celebrating a former colleague.
Jonathan Crump, a 31-year-old mortgage adviser and US army veteran, told The Vancouver Sun last week that the judge was harassing his female friend after they met Mr Brown in the resort bar late on 28 January.
He said he was irritated by what he claimed was the judge's boastful behaviour and that the judge later followed the group back to their room.
"I told him: 'You're clearly intoxicated and the girls are creeped out by you. He shoved me …. I pushed him back, then punched him in the face twice and he fell to the ground," Mr Crump told the newspaper.
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