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Using Corporate Structures to Invest in Real Estate
Wednesday, September 21, 2022Parish BhumgaraBusiness Law, Corporate LawLimited Partnership
One of the more interesting aspects of corporate law is how it allows for the use of corporate structures to facilitate investment. This article discusses how corporate structures can be used to ...
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How Do I Lend to LPs & REITs?
Tuesday, September 13, 2022Zev ZlotnickBusiness Law, Corporate LawLending, Commercial Real Estate , Limited Partnership, REIT, Real Estate Investment Trusts
Loan transactions commonly involve non-corporate entities such as limited partnerships and Real Estate Investment Trusts (“REITs”). It is important for lenders to...
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Investment Canada Act voluntary notification comes into force on August 2, 2022
Tuesday, August 30, 2022Eliane Leal da SilvaCorporate Law
As of August 2, 2022, foreign investors are able to file a voluntary notice where they otherwise would not be subject to mandatory notification or net benefit review. This applies to...
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Lawyer’s defamation action allowed to proceed in Small Claims Court
Monday, August 29, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationSmall Claims Court, Defamation, Courts of Justice Act
Ontario’s Small Claims Court is intended to provide litigants with a cost-effective forum for civil claims up to $35,000, including claims for defamation. Defamation claims in the...
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Social Clubs with Share Capital and the Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, 2010
Thursday, August 25, 2022Clifford S. GoldfarbCorporate Law, Non-Profit and Charities
Social clubs with share capital (“social companies”) remain under the Ontario Corporations Act (the “OCA”) after the Not-for-Profit Corporations Act...
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1-Minute Read for Commercial Mortgage Lenders: Beneficial Ownership vs. Registered
Tuesday, August 23, 2022Zev ZlotnickBusiness Law, Real Estate, Corporate LawCommercial Mortgage, Commercial Mortgage Lenders
Ownership of real property in Ontario is divided into legal or registered title ownership and beneficial ownership. Legal ownership and beneficial ownership of real property is...
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Doctrine of buyer beware bars claim for foundation issues raised by home inspection
Friday, August 19, 2022James R.G. CookLitigation
The opportunity to have a home inspection may provide buyers with a reasonable opportunity to discover costly deficiencies before completing the...
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Richmond Hill Councillor’s lawsuit is SLAPPed
Monday, August 8, 2022Stephen A. ThieleLitigationDefamation, Torts, Anti-SLAPP
An action that arises out of an expression on a matter of public interest is vulnerable to a motion for dismissal under section 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act (the “CJA”). Actions against elected
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Inadvertent disclosure and improper use of privileged communications
Thursday, August 4, 2022Stephen A. Thiele, Gavin J. Tighe, James R.G. CookLitigationDefamation, Rules of Professional Conduct
In our digital world, virtually everyone has made the mistake of hitting send on an email or text that they wish they could take back either because of...
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Conspiracy claim against lawyers dismissed
Wednesday, August 3, 2022Stephen A. Thiele, James R.G. Cook, Dara HirbodLitigationRules of Civil Procedure, Fraudulent Conveyances Act
Conspiracy is a complicated tort. In order to succeed in such a claim, a plaintiff is required to establish various elements. Where those elements do not exist, a defendant can bring...
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Lawyer not liable for client’s payment of foreign buyer’s tax on North Vancouver property
Tuesday, August 2, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationReal Estate, Property Transfer Tax Act, Foreign Buyer’s Tax
In Tellini v. Bell Alliance, 2022 BCCA 106 (CanLII), the British Columbia Court of Appeal reversed a trial judge’s decision that found the defendant lawyer and law firm liable for the plaintiff’s obligation to pay...
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Statutory immunity and qualified privilege protect City Councillor against night club’s action
Friday, July 29, 2022Stephen A. ThieleLitigationDefamation, Political Law, Torts, Municipal Councillors, Qualified Privilege
In the past few months, I have written a number of blogs about court decisions involving City Councillors. The courts and other processes...
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Witnesses intimidated and conspiracy alleged while trying to conceal marriage
Monday, July 25, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationFraud, Divorce Act, Property Transfer Tax Act, Foreign Buyer’s Tax
Allegations of fraud and other unlawful conduct such as conspiracy are an attack on a person’s integrity and should not be made lightly by litigants. As the mere...
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Power of sale restored by Court of Appeal under “safe harbour protections”
Wednesday, July 20, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationReal Estate, Mortgage Fees, Ontario Mortgages Act
In 2544176 Ontario Inc. v. 2394762 Ontario Inc., 2022 ONCA 529 (CanLII), the Ontario Court of Appeal restored a power of sale transaction that...
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Gift or loan? Father failed to ensure his intentions were made known
Tuesday, July 19, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationReal Estate
How is an adult child able to prove whether funds or property transferred to them by a parent were intended to be a gift rather than a...
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Leave required to sue representative of trustee in bankruptcy
Monday, July 18, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationBankruptcy, Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act
Trustees in bankruptcy are granted protection from civil claims for acts and omissions under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (“BIA”), as the statute requires...
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Losing an anti-SLAPP motion can be costly for a plaintiff
Thursday, July 14, 2022Stephen A. ThieleLitigationCosts, Defamation, Torts, Anti-SLAPP
The issue of costs is important for parties to take into consideration when litigating a case. Presumptively, winning parties are entitled to...
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Ponzi scheme participants ordered to return payments that were “too good to be true”
Monday, July 11, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationBankruptcy, Limitations Act, Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act
Investors in a scheme that seems too good to be true should be aware that they may be liable to return the funds under principles of unjust...
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Civil contempt finding against litigant for breaching receivership order
Friday, July 8, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationContempt of Court
Ontario courts maintain the inherent right to control their own processes and to sanction litigants who fail to abide by court orders. While a finding of contempt is...
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Sale of partnership property allowed despite lack of authorization and disclosure
Thursday, July 7, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationPartnership
Ioannidis v. Ioannidis, 2022 ONSC 3942 (CanLII), is a cautionary tale of siblings who owned an investment property without a...
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Toronto City Councillor knocks out defamation action
Monday, July 4, 2022Stephen A. ThieleLitigationDefamation, Anti-SLAPP Legislation, Torts
Although politicians continue to be targets of defamation actions, politicians also continue to knock them out under Ontario’s anti-SLAPP...
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Defendant liable for defamatory tweets about university instructor
Thursday, June 30, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationDefamation, Social Media, Twitter
As an Ontario court has previously recognized, Twitter is a rhetorically harsh speech environment. A stark difference in political or other views may be...
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Title insurance dispute over appraisal of “actual loss” for defects relating to municipal work order
Tuesday, June 28, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationReal Estate, Insurance Law, Ontario Insurance Act, Title Insurance
Residential title insurance policies are typically purchased to address potentially issues regarding title to a property. Title insurance policies may also cover...
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Interim injunction ordered to prevent neighbour from blocking private access road
Monday, June 27, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationRight-of-way Access , Real Estate, Road Access Act
Many rural properties in Ontario are accessed through private roads that traverse lands owned by one or more neighbours. The use of a private road may...
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Relief from forfeiture not granted where buyer claimed lack of capacity to enter into real estate purchase agreement
Friday, June 24, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationAgreement of Purchase and Sale, Real Estate, Courts of Justice Act
As real estate markets fall, buyers are sometimes left scrambling to find alternate sources of financing when the available mortgage funds turn out...
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Lawyer not vicariously liable to opposite party in failed real estate transaction
Thursday, June 23, 2022Stephen A. Thiele, James R.G. Cook, Daria RisteskaLitigationRules of Civil Procedure, Agreement of Purchase and Sale, Real Estate
There appears to be a growing propensity on the part of litigants to sue the opposite party’s lawyer when a transaction fails or something else...
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Sale of commercial units by nearly-insolvent debtor not a fraudulent conveyance
Wednesday, June 22, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationInsolvency, Real Estate
Creditors of an insolvent or nearly insolvent debtor may be understandably frustrated if the debtor sells its few remaining assets, leaving the...
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Buyer breached duty of good faith in failing to complete assignment agreement
Tuesday, June 21, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationAgreement of Purchase and Sale, Town of Caledon, GTA Real Estate
Buyers of pre-construction properties in Ontario sometimes enter into an assignment agreement with another buyer before the completion...
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Mortgage provided by corporate borrower not a “fraudulent instrument”
Monday, June 20, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationLand Title Act, Real Estate
The Ontario Land Titles Act (“LTA”) provides that a registered mortgage that is determined to be a fraudulent instrument is void and may...
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Pharmacy manager not bound by non-competition agreement
Thursday, June 16, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationNon-Compete, Working for Workers Act, 2021
In Ontario, the Working for Workers Act, 2021 provides that no employer shall enter into an employment contract or other agreement with an employee that...
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