Developer can’t charge buyer for adjustments not included in Agreement of Purchase and Sale (Bellisario v. 2200 Bromsgrove Development Inc.)
Thursday, May 15, 2025James R.G. CookLitigationDevelopment, Buyer, Agreement of Purchase and Sale
Over the past few years, there have been several media reports of developers in Ontario attempting to levy charges against buyers for various matters that were not included in the original purchase price....
Read the full post, click here.
Use of fake cases by a lawyer qualifies quite clearly as professional misconduct (R. (Ayinde) v. The London Borough of Haringey)
Friday, May 9, 2025Stephen A. ThieleLitigationBarristers and Solicitors , Legal Research , Artificial Intelligence, Fake Cases
We have written several blogs about the use of fakes cases by lawyers to support arguments made in court...
Read the full post, click here.
Factum containing fake case law likely generated by AI submitted in Ontario litigation (Ko v. Li)
Thursday, May 8, 2025James R.G. CookLitigationAI, Fake Case
ChatGPT and other generative AI (artificial intelligence) platforms have the potential to provide litigants with an efficient tool to research and understand the legal concepts and governing authorities that are applicable to their disputes. AI may provide valuable assistance in this regard...
Read the full post, click here.
Court of Appeal upholds decision to dismiss defamation action of dog-sled business (Windrift Adventures Inc. v. CTV-Bell Media Inc.)
Monday, May 5, 2025Stephen A. ThieleLitigationTorts, Defamation, SLAPP, Action Dismissed
One of the purposes of section 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act (“CJA”) is to discourage the use of litigation as a means of unduly limiting expression on a matters of public interest...
Read the full post, click here.
Town’s short-term rental by-law enforceable against tenant (Munir v. Garg)
Friday, May 2, 2025Stephen A. ThieleLitigationMunicipal Law, By-Laws, Short Term Rentals
Platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO allow property owners to rent their property to others on both a long-term and short-term basis...
Read the full post, click here.
Developer restrained from interfering with use of right-of-way during condominium construction (Figaro Dominion v. The Incumbent)
Friday, May 2, 2025James R.G. CookLitigationCondominium, Construction , Development, Real Estate
Neighbouring property owners who have a shared laneway or other land that is subject to a right-of-way are generally not permitted to interfere with each other’s established use of the right-of-way at issue...
Read the full post, click here.
Toronto cyclists gain a reprieve: government enjoined from removing bike lanes (Cycle Toronto v. Ontario (Attorney General))
Friday, April 25, 2025Stephen A. ThieleLitigationConstitutional Law , Charter, Interlocutory Injunction, Section 7, Interlocutory injunction granted
In Canadian law, government enactments that potentially infringe the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms ...
Read the full post, click here.
Buyer cannot force seller to remove notice registered on title by third party (Brighton Breeze Ltd. v. Noel Property Management Ltd.)
Friday, April 25, 2025James R.G. CookLitigationAgreement of Purchase and Sale, Real Estate, Ontario, Land Title Act
An agreement of purchase and sale (APS) for a real estate transaction may contain a term allowing a buyer to demand that a seller take steps...
Read the full post, click here.
Title Insurance vs Title Opinion
Thursday, April 24, 2025Zev ZlotnickBusiness Law, Corporate Law, Real EstateCommercial Mortgage, Mortgage, Title Insurance
Commercial mortgage lenders often prefer a lender's title insurance policy over a solicitor's title opinion for several key reasons...
Read the full post, click here.
Departing employees ordered to return and destroy confidential information (Mondee, Inc. v. Voyzant Inc.)
Monday, April 21, 2025James R.G. CookLitigationEmployee, Employer, Employment Agreements, Damages
For a business, the loss of key employees to a competitor can be devastating. While departing employees may not take their employer’s confidential...
Read the full post, click here.
No basis to pierce corporate veil in aborted real estate transaction (Dawood v. Popes Property Holdings Inc.)
Thursday, April 10, 2025James R.G. CookLitigationReal Estate, Property, Transactions
In some real estate transactions, individuals may negotiate an agreement in which they do not wish to incur personal liability and may use a shell or holding company for that purpose...
Read the full post, click here.
Dispute over exchange of keys leads to five years of litigation over sale of church property (Gyimah v. The Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of The Diocese of Hearst in Ontario)
Tuesday, April 8, 2025James R.G. CookLitigationProperty, Dispute
Courts generally expect parties to a real estate transaction to work together to ensure that it is completed as scheduled...
Read the full post, click here.
Toronto cyclists refused injunction to prevent government’s removal of traffic congesting bike lanes (Cycle Toronto v. Ontario (Attorney General))
Friday, April 4, 2025Stephen A. ThieleLitigationConstitutional Law , Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Injunction, Denied
In an earlier blog I wrote about the decision...
Read the full post, click here.
Cottage islanders’ association denied proprietary estoppel claim for control over municipal docks (Grape Island Property Owners Association Inc. v. Corporation of the City of Orillia)
Friday, April 4, 2025James R.G. CookLitigationProprietary, Estoppel, Cottage
The dispute in Grape Island Property Owners Association Inc. v. Corporation of the City of Orillia, 2025 ONSC 1480 involved a property owners association of cottagers and full-time residents of an island on Lake Simcoe, Ontario against the City of Orilla...
Read the full post, click here.
Plaintiff’s defamation claim against siblings survives Anti-SLAPP motion (The Estate of Colombe Quesnel v. G. Quesnel)
Thursday, April 3, 2025James R.G. CookLitigationDefamation, Claim, Anti-SLAPP Motion
Family feuds can be bitter and nasty...
Read the full post, click here.
The Importance of Legal Defence Insurance for Regulated Health Professionals
Wednesday, April 2, 2025Lad KucisHealth LawRegulated Health Professionals, Insurance
As legal counsel for regulated health professionals, it is highly unfortunate when a client facing a complaint or discipline hearing discovers that their professional liability insurance does not include legal defence coverage for regulatory college matters...
Read the full post, click here.
Protecting safe places to consume drugs outweighs protecting disorder around supervised consumption sites (The Neighbourhood Group v. HMKT)
Wednesday, April 2, 2025Stephen A. ThieleLitigationConstitutional Law , Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Injunction
In Ontario, government action taken by Premier Ford has caused much litigation because political opponents to the Premier have been unable to crack his personal popularity and the popularity of his government’s views on issues such as the redevelopment of Ontario Place or the removal of bike lanes on major roadways, particularly in Toronto...
Read the full post, click here.
Do requisitions concerning gas leases go to root of title? (Van Hove v. Dryuff)
Tuesday, April 1, 2025James R.G. Cook, Isabel YooLitigationReal Estate, Agreement of Purchase and Sale, Root of Title
In a real estate transaction, the agreement of purchase and sale will include a deadline by which a buyer may submit requisitions for issues that they want the seller to address prior to closing...
Read the full post, click here.
The Role of Medical Staff Associations at Public Hospitals
Friday, March 28, 2025Lad KucisHealth LawRole, Medical Staff Associations
In Ontario, all public hospitals are required to have a medical staff association (“MSA”, which consists of all physicians who possess appointments at a public hospital...
Read the full post, click here.
Claim for ineffective assistance of counsel dismissed as a collateral attack (Mann v. Royle)
Friday, March 28, 2025James R.G. CookLitigationClaim, Dismissed
In some cases, the doctrines of collateral attack and abuse of process may be invoked to strike a claim where a plaintiff has failed to pursue remedies, such as an appeal, which were available in earlier proceedings...
Read the full post, click here.
Has the Court of Appeal made it harder to succeed on a SLAPP motion in a defamation case? (Benchwood Builders Inc. v. Prescott)
Thursday, March 27, 2025Stephen A. ThieleLitigationTorts, Defamation, SLAPP, Test
For many years, I have written about defamation cases and SLAPP motions in which defendants have sought the early dismissal of defamation actions under section 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act (“CJA”) or under the equivalent British Columbia anti-SLAPP law...
Read the full post, click here.
Court is not forum for resolving political grievances (Ontario Place Protectors v. Ontario)
Wednesday, March 26, 2025Stephen A. ThieleLitigationConstitutional Law , Courts, Judicial Scrutiny , Immunity
This blog updates an earlier blog that I wrote on August 16, 2024 in connection with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision in Ontario Place Protectors v. His Majesty the King in Right of Ontario, 2024 ONSC 4194 (CanLII)...
Read the full post, click here.
TRREB defeats plaintiff’s motion to restore MLS access (Ojohome Canada Ltd. v. The Canadian Real Estate Association)
Monday, March 24, 2025James R.G. CookLitigationMotion, MLS, TRREB
In Ojohome Canada Ltd. v. The Canadian Real Estate Association, 2025 ONSC 1601, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice dismissed a motion brought by the plaintiff to regain access to live feed data from the Multiple Listing Services (MLS) provided by Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) and the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA)...
Read the full post, click here.
Claim struck against individual employee of corporate defendant (Soneri Invest v. Shell Canada)
Friday, March 14, 2025James R.G. CookLitigationClaim, Rules of Civil Procedure
In some claims against corporate defendants, plaintiffs may also seek to include individual representatives or employees as defendants...
Read the full post, click here.
Sellers repudiated agreement of purchase and sale by failing to address outstanding work orders (Reel em Inn and Resort v. RNR Doemel Enterprises)
Tuesday, March 11, 2025James R.G. CookLitigationSeller, Agreement of Purchase and Sale
A seller’s failure to advise a buyer that outstanding work orders against a property will be addressed before closing may entitle the buyer to terminate the transaction, as demonstrated by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision in Reel em Inn and Resort v. RNR Doemel Enterprises, 2025 ONSC 805...
Read the full post, click here.
The Complaint Process Before the College of Massage Therapists of Ontario (CMTO): What RMTs Need to Know
Monday, March 10, 2025Lad KucisHealth LawCollege of Massage Therapists of Ontario , Registered Massage Therapist, Complaints
as lawyers for registered we are regularly asked questions about the complaints process before the College of Massage Therapists of Ontario...
Read the full post, click here.
Protecting the justice system from vexatious litigants (Ottawa Police Services Board v. M.(D.))
Friday, March 7, 2025Stephen A. ThieleLitigationCivil Procedure, vexatious litigant
The justice system is an important institution in a well-functioning democracy...
Read the full post, click here.
Buyer breached agreement to purchase home that was destroyed by fire (McDonald v. Lowrie)
Thursday, March 6, 2025James R.G. CookLitigationAgreement of Purchase and Sale, Breach, Property
Often there may be several weeks or months between the signing of a binding Agreement of Purchase and Sale (APS) and the scheduled completion date for the purchase of a property...
Read the full post, click here.
The Complaint Process Before the Ontario College of Pharmacists (OCP): What Pharmacists Need to Know
Wednesday, March 5, 2025Lad KucisHealth LawPharmacist, Complaints, Ontario College of Pharmacists
As lawyers for pharmacists, we are regularly asked questions about the complaints process before the Ontario College of Pharmacists...
Read the full post, click here.
Modern, flexible approach to assessment of defamation pleading applied to republication (Sawatzky v. Prince Albert Golf and Curling Club Inc.)
Wednesday, March 5, 2025Stephen A. ThieleLitigationTorts, Defamation, Pleadings
Pleadings are important documents in a civil litigation case...
Read the full post, click here.