Personal Liability of Directors
June 29, 2021 By Brian Babcock Directors and officers of corporations have many potential liabilities. About a decade ago, a client asked us to assemble a collection of all the provisions on director’s liability that we could find. It was over an inch thick. If we updated it, no doubt it would be thicker. However, […]
Family Cottage Succession: A Dream or a Nightmare?
June 29, 2021 By Brian Babcock The idea of a family cottage property being passed down through the generations appeals to many. However, without careful planning, it can turn out to be a nightmare rather than a dream. Holt v. Grieg is an example which also illustrates the versatility of a certificate of pending litigation […]
What is Reasonableness?
June 22, 2021 By Brian Babcock Judicial review is the mechanism by which courts supervise the actions of statutory decision makers. Typically, we think of formal tribunals, ranging from labour arbitrators to Human Rights Tribunals, or government officials. There are other, less common decision makers who exercise statutory powers which affect everyday life. How do […]
Employment Contracts and the Duty to Mitigate
June 22, 2021 By Brian Babcock Failing to deal with the obligation to mitigate damages in an employment contract may result in a windfall to an employee. In Barry Gula v. Freed Developments Ltd. the employee signed a written contract of employment for an indefinite term. The contract provided a formula to calculate the employee’s […]
Rethinking Damages for Defamation?
June 15, 2021 By Brian Babcock Defamation is the action you might bring if someone tells lies about you that harm your reputation. Libel and slander are both types of defamation. An action for defamation may lead to “aggravated damages” or “punitive damages” in addition to “general damages” for loss of reputation, mental distress and […]
Employers: Do Not Imitate the Ostrich
June 15, 2021 By Brian Babcock Discrimination can affect anyone. A recent Ontario Human Rights Tribunal decision involving a cardiac surgeon illustrates this, while making the more general point that employers have a duty to investigate complaints, independent of the merits of the complaint. After all, how does the employer know if they have a […]
More Common Sense in the Courts
June 1, 2021 By Brian Babcock The Ontario Court of Appeal continues to apply a common sense approach to interpreting agreements of purchase and sale. This is bad news if you want to rely upon a technicality to try to walk away from a deal. But good news if you have common sense. In Hannivan […]
The Character of the Employment
June 1, 2021 By Brian Babcock The criteria for determining the appropriate notice period for an employee dismissed without cause are well-established as including length of service; the age of the employee; the availability of similar employment; and the “character of the employment”. We see many cases in which length of service is the focus. […]