Articles 2023

On February 8 and 9, 2024, I participated in and attended the Ontario Bar Association’s Municipal, Planning, and Environmental Ontario Legal Conference. My experiences at the conference confirmed the complex nature of these all-too-important legal practice areas.

This article summarizes and reviews Saskatchewan's Bill 149 The Franchise Disclosure Act, which was introduced in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan on November 9, 2023 and underwent its second reading on March 4, 2024. The author points out some notable features of the Bill in relation to the enacted franchise legislation in other provinces of Canada.

A review by Matthew Gordon, a Toronto-based litigator with experience resolving civil, administrative, labour, employment and constitutional disputes and the sitting Chair of the Ontario Bar Association’s Alternative Dispute Resolution section, of Online Dispute Resolution by Colm Brannigan and Marc Bhalla.

This article considers the so-called "resale exemption" from the requirement in Ontario's Arthur Wishart Act (Franchise Disclosure) that the franchisor make disclosure to a prospective franchisee. After examining the leading judicial cases relating to the resale exemption, the author demonstrates that the scope of the exemption is construed narrowly.

The threat of vicarious liability in tort and over a franchisee’s employees is one of the most important, and potentially costly, concerns for franchisors. The article discusses recent changes in the U.S. law that are impacting franchisors, and the potential impacts in Canada.

What are the potential consequences of a party surreptitiously obtaining their spouse’s private communications with a goal of using them against the spouse in family law proceedings? The recent case of Moran v. Moran, 2023 ONSC 6832 discusses an interesting remedy to a situation that often arises in family law disputes.

An overview of the jurisprudence with respect to incarcerated parents seeking parenting Orders with their children and attempts to identify the deficiencies in the current approach adopted by the various provincial and federal actors involved in facilitating parenting time between children and incarcerated parents. The article summarizes key themes that emerge throughout the legislation and jurisprudence on this issue and urges family lawyers to consider the impact of incarceration on parenting.

The topic of real estate often intersects with family law and as not all family law lawyers practice real estate (or have a friend to call that does), this article strives to summarize some key points that may be notable: spousal consent, matrimonial home designations, and joint tenancy as it relates to death.