Penalties for Municipal Conflict of Interest
August 12, 2022 By Mark Mikulasik The appropriate penalty for a municipal conflict of interest has been controversial as long as there has been a Municipal Conflict of Interest Act in Ontario. Prior to the 2017 amendments to the Act, if there was found to be a conflict of interest, the presiding judge had no […]
Family Cottage Succession: A Dream or A Nightmare Take Two
August 5, 2022 By Brian Babcock About a year ago, we posted an article entitled Family Cottage Succession: A Dream or A Nightmare?. That article dealt with the issues that could arise from a simple brother-sister dispute when two buildings were constructed on one lot. We concluded the article with the tagline “don’t let your […]
Sometimes You Need a Full Factual Record
August 5, 2022 By Brian Babcock Everybody involved in a lawsuit should want to resolve it as quickly and simply and cheaply as possible. In the area of wrongful dismissal litigation, there has been a strong movement in that direction, using summary judgment motions under Rule 20 of the Rules of Civil Procedure to resolve […]
May I Take That Back?
August 1, 2022 By Brian Babcock If you make a gift, whether to a trust or an individual, even a family member, you cannot simply take it back without consent. THE ISSUE There is a distinction in law between a gift, which is absolute, and a resulting trust by which legal title is transferred, but […]
Is That a Fact or a Prediction?
August 1, 2022 By Brian Babcock A common way to recover damages for economic loss in the absence of a contract or physical damage to property is to make a claim for negligent misrepresentation. The test for negligent misrepresentation was conveniently recently repeated in a 2019 Superior Court decision called Doumouras v. Chander: there must […]
When Do Royalty Rights Run with the Land?
July 23, 2022 By Mark Mikulasik A royalty interest in mining claims and leases may be an interest in land, unlike many other contracts affecting the rights of landowners. For historical reasons going back to feudal England, lawmakers have not wanted title to land to be tied up by contractual rights and obligations which may […]
Municipal By-Laws and Injunctions
July 23, 2022 By Mark Mikulasik Ontario municipalities are in a special position with respect to obtaining injunctions for a breach of a bylaw. Section 440 of the Municipal Act, 2001 provides that a municipality may apply to the court for an order restraining any contravention of its bylaws in addition to any other remedies […]
Taking Prompt Payment Seriously
July 15, 2022 By Jonathon Clark The introduction of prompt payment requirements was one of the most important changes in the move from the Construction Lien Act to the Construction Act. WHAT IS NEW ABOUT THIS LAW The whole point of these provisions is to require prompt payment to avoid disruptions to construction projects when […]
Taking Sexual Misconduct Seriously: Ontario Edition
July 15, 2022 By Brian Babcock In our article Taking Sexual Misconduct Seriously, we looked at an Alberta court decision where a single incident of sexual misconduct in the workplace was interpreted to constitute sexual assault and therefore was serious enough to justify dismissal for cause. In that article, we predicted that an Ontario court […]
The Votes Are In…
GOLD for Weilers, and SILVER for Mark Mikulasik and Paul Jasiura in the ‘Lawyers’ category SILVER for Mark Mikulasik, and BRONZE for Weilers LLP in the ‘Real Estate Law and Lawyers’ category SILVER for Weilers, and BRONZE for Mark Mikulasik in the ‘Estate Lawyers’ category We are proud to serve Thunder Bay and northwestern […]