Articles 2023

During the April BBL, the group discussed a number of issues, including the impact of posthumous conception on estate planning, revocation clauses, and submitting a court certified copy of a will to probate where the original will was retained in the jurisdiction in which it was originally probated.

In Amaya, the Quebec Court of Appeal reinforced the legislative purpose of the leave requirement in secondary market class actions, as being the protection of public issuers and their long-term shareholders, and not the plaintiff-shareholders., holding that "the purpose of the screening mechanism [is] to deter opportunistic or abusive litigation by plaintiff-shareholders who inappropriately wish to take advantage of the favourable conditions for secondary market actions against issuers."

What is an accelerator, incubator and eco-bator and which is most appropriate for your start-up?

Topics covered this week included two procedural fairness decisions (one relating to interpreting a contract in a way neither party argued, the other relating to the effect of a lengthy adjournment mid-trial), repair and storage liens in the automobile insurance context, the tort of conversion, as well as several short procedural decisions.

In Wallbridge v. Brunning, the Court of Appeal held that whether a law firm can be vicariously liable for defamatory statements made by a lawyer who practices “in association” with it, is an issue of general importance that should be determined at a trial and not on a motion for summary judgment. Other topics covered this week included several wills and estates matters, wrongful dismissal, family law (custody and abduction), limitation periods and some procedural matters.

Sydney Lederman plead guilty to securities fraud and was sentenced to jail on April 13, 2018, for selling a senior citizen securities in a defunct corporation for the price of $90,000 that he fraudulently claimed were worth $3 million but were, in fact, worthless.

Topics discussed at the March Brown Bag Lunch include wait times for Applications for a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee, the production of medical records, estates involving digital assets, and bitcoin.

FSCO's new targeted review, Quarterly Update, and Pension Assessments, a new case about limitation periods and pension claims, and more...

The group discussed a number of issues, including online registries for wills and powers of attorney, recent estates and trusts decisions and practices for storing revoked testamentary documents.

The Divisional Court granted an employer's application for judicial review of a WSIAT decision. The Divisional Court also provided the employer with declaratory relief, and ordered that the WSIAT decision be quashed.