Arbitrators and Bias
December 21, 2023 By Brian Babcock One ground to object to the selection of a decision maker- be they judge, be they arbitrator – is “a reasonable apprehension of bias. When it comes to judges, this is a very high standard to meet, as judicial resources are scarce, and courts hate “judge shopping”. Or maybe […]
Mining Arbitrations Can Be Frustrating
December 14, 2023 By Nick Melchiorre Courts in Ontario will usually defer to arbitrators and are reluctant to second guess their decisions. We have written about this before. ISSUE Where does the court draw the line? Courts will act to ensure that arbitrators apply the correct law, especially on arbitrations under the Arbitration Act 1991 […]
Slapping Down SLAPPs
December 12, 2023 By Brian Babcock Section 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act is the provision which permits “Anti-SLAPP” motions. SLAPP stands for “Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation”. Public debate on matters of public interest is a part of our Charter Right of Freedom of Expression. This must be balanced against the rights of […]
Time Limits Are Not Easy
December 7, 2023 By Jonathon Clark It has become popular for defendants in civil litigation to bring a summary judgment motion to seek to have an action dismissed where there is an allegation that the action was commenced after the time limit (limitation period) had expired. THE ISSUES The Ontario Court of Appeal has reminded […]
Relevancy Versus Confidentiality
November 10, 2023 By Brian Babcock In litigation, issues as to the production of documents are common. Parties often want to maintain the confidentiality of records prepared in confidence- employment records, medical records, internal investigations. THE ISSUE How far will courts go in protecting confidentiality? This confuses the concepts of confidentiality and privilege. Privilege is […]
Certificates of Pending Litigation
November 6, 2023 By Jonathon Clark Do you know what a “certificate of pending litigation” ( often called a CPL) is and does? A CPL is a document issued by a court- in Ontario, the Superior Court of Justice – when a party, the Plaintiff, is suing, claiming an interest in land. A CPL is […]
Oppression Remedies, Equity and Arbitration
November 3, 2023 By Brian Babcock Courts continue to defer jurisdiction to arbitrators where parties have agreed to arbitrate. THE ISSUE How far will a court defer where the dispute contains issues beyond claims of breach of contract? THE CASE A recent example at the Superior Court level is Spasiw et al. v. Quality Green […]
Thumbs up for Contracts
October 30, 2023 By Mark Mikulasik A contract requires an offer and acceptance. It also requires consideration, but we already explained that concept. “Offer and acceptance” is one of those topics that law school courses drill into first-year student’s brains, with all the strange variations we seldom deal with in practice. The question, however, can […]
Fixed or Indefinite Employment and Why it Matters
October 27, 2023 By Brian Babcock When does a fixed-term contract of employment become a contract of indefinite duration? In Ontario and most of Canada, employees hired under a contract for an indefinite duration are entitled to “reasonable notice” of termination. In Ontario, although the Employment Standards Act provides the minimum notice, reasonable notice may […]
Making Sure you Have a Contract
September 22, 2023 By Mark Mikulasik In order for there to be a contract, there must be a “meeting of the minds”. Sometimes, this is evidenced by a written and signed agreement. But what if the “agreement” is said to have been verbal, but one party claims that they accurately reduced it to writing? This […]