Articles 2020

With the introduction of prompt payment and adjudication into Ontario’s Construction Act, the pursuit of “rough justice” became a new tool in the tool-kit of project participants. In spite of its procedural and other frailties, adjudication arrived along with a legislated provision that “the determination and reasons of an adjudicator are admissible as evidence in a court.” The addition of this “admissibility” provision raises interesting questions.

In Praxy Cladding Corp. v. Stone Lamina Inc., the Ontario Superior Court reviewed the process for amending pleadings in proceedings under the Construction Act, and in doing so, provided important clarity as to what constitutes an admission, as well as the distinction between an admission from a pleading versus an admission arising out of an examination for discovery. The authors consider the key takeaways from this decision with respect to pleadings and conducting examinations for discovery.

Can the construction lien and adjudication regimes co-exist in Ontario and work seamlessly, in harmony together? This article explores certain unintended pitfalls, shortcomings, and incongruencies associated with combining the regimes, as illustrated in the wording of the statute itself as well as in recent case law on adjudication.

Three years into the Interim Adjudication process under Part II.1 of the Construction Act, it is apparent that what was promised as a quick and dirty approach to dispute resolution is turning into a fly-by-night process that creates more problems than solutions. In this article, the author shares his thoughts on some of these problems.

The article addresses a repeating “urban legend” that there is no value to using CCDC contracts, and reinforces why the uniquely Canadian system is not only fair but eliminates a great deal of confusion and problems for all parties concerned.

This article explores two of the most common construction contract formats in Ontario, the CCDC 2 – Stipulated Price Contract and the CCDC 5A Construction Management Contract – For Services, and identifies some of the similarities and differences between these project delivery models.

A summary of the event hosted by the OBA's Construction and Infrastructure Law Section on January 19, 2023.

Referral of lien actions to the Small Claims Court is a new process that is now available to the parties if the lien action is for an amount that is within the monetary jurisdiction of the Small Claims Court. The author created this very useful step-by-step guide that describes the transition of a lien action from the Superior Court of Justice to the Small Claims Court once the matter is referred to the Small Claims Court Deputy Judge.

In this article, the author discusses the Divisional Court’s confirmation that adjudicators can determine their own jurisdiction, and the Court’s discussion on whether abandoning or terminating a contract means the contract has “ceased to exist."

This article discusses three recent Ontario court cases in the developing area of Construction Act adjudications, as well as some unanswered questions and lessons learned from the cases and the authors’ own experiences with adjudications so far.