Articles

Trial judge's decision overturned on the basis of "impermissible speculation" of findings within a recreational hockey game.

In Mullin v. Lagace, the Superior Court confirmed that costs awards must be proportionate to the amount recovered, thereby preventing an award greater than the settlement amount in the specific circumstances of the case.

The Court of Appeal released a number of civil decisions this week in areas including family law, med mal, real estate, offers to settle and other procedural issues. One interesting real estate decision was one in which the court concluded that the combined effect of s. 113(5)(a)(iv) of the Registry Act with the nemo dat principle protected the respondents’ right of way through a laneway to their homes.

The Court of Appeal released a number of civil decisions this week. Perhaps the most interesting was a successful claim against a bank for knowing assistance of breach of trust on the part of a banking customer. Other topics included the financial management of not-for-profit corporations, the assessment of lawyers’ accounts, regulated professions, commercial leases, aborted real estate transactions, estate litigation, family law and defamation.

The Court of Appeal released a number of civil decisions this week. Topics included family law, summary judgment, a settlement stemming from the finding of a mouldy piece of chicken found in a cereal box, a contractual disagreement with respect to oil and gas assets, MVA, bankruptcy and wrongful dismissal.

Likely motivated by concerns about proportionality and the belief that judges are more than capable of weighing expert evidence, two recent Supreme Court of Canada decisions have made it improbable that an expert challenged on the basis of independence and impartiality will be disqualified from providing opinion evidence at the admissibility stage.

Supreme Court of Canada weighs in on recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in Canada.

Summaries of this week's OCA decisions (non-criminal). There was one substantial civil law decision from the Court of Appeal this week, along with a number of shorter endorsements. The more substantive decision was an insurance case where a home insurer tried to bring a subrogated claim against its own insured in order to access the insured’s auto policy. The court confirmed that an insurer cannot sue its insured for the very loss covered.