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New Ontario Small Claims Court limits coming into effect soon.

Following are this week's summaries of the Court of Appeal for Ontario.

Summaries of the civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario for the past week. Topics covered include wrongful dismissal, custody/relocation, equalization of net family property, charging orders under the Solicitors Act, and rental vehicle insurance coverage.

Following are this past week's summaries of the civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario.

Congratulations to Blaney's Chad Kopach for successfully acting in First National Financial GP Corporation v. Golden Dragon HO 10 Inc. The case involved a motion by a receiver for directions in respect of the debtors’ appeal of a sales approval and vesting order. The sale and vesting order were preserved.

Ramkey Communications Inc. v. Labourers’ International Union of North America involved an appeal of a judicial review of a construction union certification application. In allowing the appeal, the Court determined that the Divisional Court had misapplied the Tessier test. The result meant that the “construction technicians” were allowed to unionize under provincial labour laws and not regulated by federal labour laws.

The Ontario Superior Court recently reminded defendants that an aggressive defence can be costly, when it awarded judgment to a plaintiff of less than $63,000, and more than four times that amount for the plaintiff's costs.

The Ontario Court of Appeal upholds a decision striking out paragraphs of a defence under Rule 25.11, and says that allegations regarding the plaintiff's motive for commencing an action are generally irrelevant.

Erin Cowling of Flex Legal Network reviews Professor Backhouse's "double" biography of the first two women appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada.