Do Not Destroy That Evidence
November 3, 2026 By Brian Babcock Every party to a lawsuit has an obligation to disclose all relevant documents to the opposing parties. This principle of discovery prevents “trial by ambush’ and helps ensure fair trials. Intentionally destroying or concealing relevant documents is called by the legal term “spoliation”. We wrote an article previously entitled […]
Justice Delayed: Why Ontario Judges Hate Last-Minute Adjournments
August 18, 2026 By Jonathon Clark “Justice delayed is justice denied.” The saying is usually attributed to William gladstone, a 19th century British Prime Minister, but it’s roots go all the way at least to the 13th century, in the Magna Carta, the bedrock of much of our modern thinking about justice, liberty and civil […]
Family Disputes: Keep the Mortgage in Good Standing
September 22, 2026 By Nick Melchiorre Involved in a family dispute? Whether it is a spousal dispute, or estate litigation, keep an eye on the status of the mortgage on any property in which you might have or want to claim an interest. Unfortunately, the stress, expense and confusion that often arise during disputes might […]
Proving Your Case: Evidence In Action
August 25, 2026 By Brian Babcock Court cases are decided 90% on the facts and 10% on the law. The only facts a court considers are those for which there is evidence. Without evidence, the facts don’t exist. Having explained a bit about what evidence is, we figured that we ought to explain a bit […]
Precise Pleading Counts
August 18, 2026 By Jonathon Clark We have written several articles about the importance of pleadings – the formal documents which start or respond to a proceeding- covering: The core function of pleadings in defining the scope of the case What happens when you need to update or change facts, causes of action, or your […]
What Is Evidence?
August 4, 2026 By Brian Babcock We have written before about the need for evidence to win your case in court. That article focused specifically on using expert evidence to prove damages. We have also written specific articles on other aspects of evidence, including: Expert evidence on applications Evidence in the internet age (in two […]
How To Sort Out A Corporate Dispute
May 19, 2026 By Nick Melchiorre What happens if you are a stakeholder in a privately held Ontario business corporation, and have a complaint about the behaviour of management? There are two principal pathways to relief, other directly suing the individuals involved , which has problems as an avenue to a remedy – primarily, that […]
Court Costs May Be A Bigger Risk Than Damages
April 14, 2026 By Jonathon Clark We have already explained that failing to accept an offer to settle a lawsuit can have serious cost consequences in Ontario. THE ISSUE What happens when the Plaintiff recovers damages, but less than their offer to settle, and the Defendant made no monetary offer? AN OVERVIEW Although costs are […]
What is Civil Fraud?
January 20, 2026 By Brian Babcock When we hear or think about fraud, most of us probably think about criminal fraud. Criminal fraud is society’s response to the need to deter and punish deception. THE ISSUES How do we deter deception that causes damages or losses to private citizens? How do we compensate these individuals […]
The Risks When Your Real Estate Deal Fails to Close
December 30, 2025 By Nick Melchiorre We have written before about what happens if a prospective buyer is unable to close the real estate deal. This may not be as big a problem in Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario, where the market is still vigorous, but it is a significant issue in the GTA, where […]