What Are “aggravated Damages”?
February 13, 2017 By Brian Babcock Aggravated damages are intended to compensate for an actual loss such as anxiety or nervous shock beyond economic losses, or in rare cases, beyond general damages for pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life. Aggravated damages are awarded in certain types of contract cases, where there are almost […]
Ontario Human Rights Commission Policy Position On Medical Documentation
February 7, 2017 By Brad Smith On February 1, 2017 the Ontario Human Rights Commission released a policy statement on medical documentation when addressing accommodation requests based on disability. The policy is intended to address two questions. First, people with disabilities often provide or rely on ambiguous or vague medical notes that do not provide enough information to allow for […]
Bill 34 – Children’s Law Reform Amendment Act (Recognizing Relationship With Grandparents): A Symbolic Change
January 20, 2017 By Brad Smith Co-Authored by Nick Baxter (Law Student, Bora Laskin Faculty of Law) Bill 34, the Children’s Law Reform Amendment Act (Recognizing Relationships with Grandparents), 2016, came into force on December 8, 2016. It amended section 21(1) of the Children’s Law Reform Act to state “a parent of a child or any other person, including a […]
Trustee Tip
January 9, 2017 The Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision in Cahill v. Cahill demonstrates several valuable lessons for those who agree to be an executor or trustee. The facts in Cahill probably represent a common scenario. Through his Last Will and Testament, a father appointed his son and daughter as executors. The Will required a trust to […]
What Is “Consumer Surplus”?
January 3, 2017 By Brian Babcock Traditionally, courts award damages for breach of contract mainly from a commercial viewpoint- asking questions such as “what additional expenses did the breach cause?” or, sometimes “what was the loss of profits suffered?” These approaches however do not adequately capture the non-monetary benefits which flow from certain types of consumer […]
A Lawyer’s Twelve Days Of Christmas
December 16, 2016 By Brian Babcock On the first day of Christmas my client asked me “who owns a partridge in a pear tree?” I answered that no one owns wild game, but domestic fowl are another tale indeed. On the second day of Christmas, my client asked me “what if I fall in love and […]
Court Of Appeal Favours Enforcing Arbitration Clauses
November 22, 2016 By Brian Babcock Some time back, I wrote about Taking Arbitration Clauses Seriously, noting that “Canadian courts are increasingly willing to enforce the terms of arbitration clauses in commercial agreements.” This has been reinforced by a recent Ontario Court of Appeal decision, Haas v. Gunasekaram, which involved a dispute between investors in a restaurant. The […]
Bill 132 And Workplace Sexual Harassment
November 9, 2016 By Brad Smith Bill 132, “An Act to amend various statutes with respect to sexual violence, sexual harassment, domestic violence and related matters”, amends 6 different Ontario Acts but we will focus on the changes to the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The Occupational Health and Safety Act was amended in 2010 to include workplace harassment […]
The New Canada Child Benefit
October 11, 2016 By Brad Smith The Canada Child Benefit (the “CCB”) replaces what used to be known as the child tax benefit and universal child care benefit. The good news is the CCB increases the amount of benefits received compared to the combination of the child tax benefit and universal child care benefit. Some highlights: […]
Inquest Into The Deaths Of 7 First Nations Youth Comes To A Conclusion
October 6, 2016 The Inquest into the deaths of Jethro Anderson, Curran Strang, Paul Panacheese, Robyn Harper, Reggie Bushie, Kyle Morriseau and Jordan Wabasse, seven (7) First Nation youth who died while attending high school in the City of Thunder Bay, concluded on June 28, 2016. These young people were forced to leave their families, […]