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 […]
Pick a Number, Any Number
October 23, 2023 By Brian Babcock You agree to purchase a condominium, but the vendor breaches the agreement. THE ISSUE What are you entitled to as damages? The judge will not simply pick a number- there are rules and processes to be followed. THE CASE According to the Divisional Court in Nguyen v. Hu, in […]
Enforcement of judgments from Outside Ontario
October 20, 2023 By Jonathon Clark If you have obtained a judgment against a person (or corporation) in a court outside Ontario, what do you do? If the judgment is from another province or territory other than Quebec, under the Reciprocal Enforcement of Judgments Act, there is a simple process to register that judgment with […]
Evidence in the Internet Age – Part 2
October 16, 2023 By Brian Babcock The internet is an ocean of information. Some of it is even correct. The paramount rule governing the admissibility of evidence is reliability and necessity. The best evidence is a document or firsthand evidence of a witness. Not all documents are admitted into evidence. Unless the parties agree otherwise, […]
Don’t be Late for a very important Date
October 13, 2023 By Brian Babcock In 2018, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that the basic limitation of two years under the Limitations Act does not prevent objection to the parts of estate accounts that are over two years old. The passing of accounts is usually done at the end of the estate administration. […]
The Oppression Remedy and Piercing the Corporate Veil
October 10, 2023 By Nick Melchiorre What do you do if your tenant (or any other creditor) fails to pay you after the controlling shareholder/director has stripped all the cash out of the company? Suing the corporation is not productive. You want to sue the person with the money. But what do you sue them […]
What if you Die Early?
October 6, 2023 By Brian Babcock It’s not something you want to contemplate, let alone discuss, but it does happen. Have you talked about your children’s futures? Who will care for your pets? What about your digital assets? If you don’t have a spouse, children, or pets, what charities do you want to benefit, or […]
Even Guardianship can be a Battleground
October 2, 2023 By Jonathon Clark It is always sad when families do not agree on how to care for the assets of elders or incapable persons generally. Just as we have seen a huge increase in estate litigation, there are more fights over the control of assets while the owner is still alive. Whether […]