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Developer required to answer discovery questions about misleading other buyers
Thursday, March 23, 2023James R.G. CookLitigationAgreement of Purchase and Sale, Real Estate
During the course of litigation, plaintiffs may seek evidence that a defendant has engaged in a similar pattern of impugned conduct with other people who...
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Subpoena issued for political objectives quashed
Monday, March 20, 2023Stephen A. ThieleLitigationPolitical Law, Politicians, Subpoena, Quashed
A subpoena is a court order, usually issued as a matter of course based on a lawyer’s request, for a...
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Real estate agent sued for misrepresenting identity of buyer
Monday, February 27, 2023James R.G. CookLitigationRules of Civil Procedure, Real Estate
In Ker v. Deol, 2023 ONSC 1167 (CanLII), a motion judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice considered whether the buyer’s real estate agent could be added as a defendant in a lawsuit brought...
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Ontario Lacrosse Association Defeats Competitor’s Motion for Injunction
Monday, February 27, 2023Stephen A. ThieleLitigationMembership, Injunction, Sports Law, Organizations
Competition amongst sporting organizations vying for eligible, talented athletes is commonplace. Accordingly, organizations take steps to...
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Court of Appeal affirms that entire agreement clause is not bullet-proof
Friday, February 24, 2023Stephen A. ThieleLitigationReal Estate, Contracts, Commercial Tenancies, Entire Agreement Clauses
Drafting clear, concise and bullet-proof provisions in a contract is an art. It takes time and a complete understanding of a client’s agreement with...
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Sellers not required to produce real estate lawyer’s file after terminating transaction due to lawyer’s approval condition
Tuesday, February 21, 2023James R.G. CookLitigationAgreement of Purchase and Sale, Real Estate
An Agreement of Purchase and Sale (APS) for a real estate transaction may sometimes have a condition that allows for review of the APS by...
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Plaintiff fails to prove notary public’s error was the cause of losses from real estate transaction
Friday, February 17, 2023James R.G. CookLitigationBritish Columbia, Real Estate, Negligence, Professional Negligence
In a professional negligence claim, a plaintiff must establish not only that a defendant breached the applicable standard of care but that the breach was the factual cause of the losses being claimed. Depending on the...
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Plaintiffs unable to establish terms of contract and entitlement to funds paid to trucking company
Friday, February 17, 2023Stephen A. Thiele, Rob WintersteinLitigationContracts, Formation, Enforceability
Business relationships between different parties are generally governed by contracts. To be enforceable, a contract must have certainty of terms that are agreed to by the...
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Buyer not to entitled purchaser’s lien to recover deposit following builder’s default
Tuesday, February 14, 2023James R.G. CookLitigationLand Title Act, Real Estate, Ontario Planning Act
Buyers of new homes sometimes enter into an Agreement of Purchase and Sale (APS) with the builder/developer of the proposed dwelling who doesn’t own the underlying land at the time the agreement is made. In such cases, it...
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Defence of qualified privilege available to Township for posting letters from public
Monday, February 13, 2023James R.G. CookLitigationMunicipal Act, Courts of Justice Act, Planning Act
Municipal site plan applications have a public component that may expose an applicant to complaints from people who are opposed to their plans. As part of the...
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Former Chamber of Commerce employee’s defamation action allowed to continue
Monday, February 13, 2023Stephen A. ThieleLitigationTorts, Anti-SLAPP, Defamation, Motion Dismissed
Although section 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act (the “CJA”), the “anti-SLAPP provision”, has become a powerful tool to dismiss defamation actions at an early stage, there is certainly no guarantee that its use will always be...
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Owner of corporation faces personal liability for stripping assets following lease default
Friday, February 10, 2023James R.G. CookLitigationCorporations Act, Corporate Law, Lease Agreement, Business Corporations Act
Corporations are separate legal persons with their own property rights and obligations. Individual shareholders are not generally liable for any acts or...
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“Sugar Daddy’s” $226 million action against “Sugar Baby” dismissed
Friday, February 10, 2023Stephen A. ThieleLitigationSummary Judgment, Civil Procedure, Limitation Periods
Technology has expanded the ability of people to meet others who they otherwise may have never met in a purely paper-based world. Indeed, entrepreneurs have...
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Seller ordered to obtain severance of residential properties to complete transaction
Friday, February 3, 2023James R.G. CookLitigationReal Estate, Ontario Planning Act
In a real estate transaction, the seller must be in a position to ensure that good title is conveyed to a buyer at closing. In the time leading up to...
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Does a bank have a duty to warn a customer before carrying out a suspicious transaction?
Tuesday, January 31, 2023James R.G. CookLitigationBritish Columbia, Fraud, Exclusion Clauses , Application for Remittance
If a customer walks into a bank and asks a teller to carry out a certain transaction, does the bank owe the customer a duty to...
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Complaint about changes to Greenbelt Plan against Premier Ford not worthy of inquiry
Friday, January 27, 2023Stephen A. ThieleLitigationPolitical Law, Integrity Commissioner Complaint, Dismissal
Premier Doug Ford continues to be the target of Integrity Commissioner complaints by opposing members of Ontario’s legislators. Although there is...
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Seller allowed to re-schedule Tarion closing date following “unavoidable delay”
Friday, January 27, 2023James R.G. CookLitigationOntario, Agreement of Purchase and Sale, Real Estate
New homes in Ontario may include a warranty from the builder for certain construction deficiencies and other...
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Freedom of expression prevails in responses to COVID-19 protest organizers’ defamation action
Monday, January 16, 2023Stephen A. ThieleLitigationTorts, Anti-SLAPP, Defamation
March 2020 will live in our memories forever. It is the month that, among other things, the world panicked, that governments issued emergency orders to shutdown...
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Court orders removal of Facebook posts under cyber-bullying law
Friday, January 6, 2023Stephen A. ThieleLitigationRemedies, Cyber-bullying, Removal of online posts
The use of social media to threaten, intimidate or harass someone is an obvious cause of concern in our society. Young people are particularly vulnerable to social media harassment or what has...
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Claim against Google for hosting defamatory reviews allowed to proceed
Friday, January 6, 2023James R.G. CookLitigationDefamation, Removal of online posts, Google, Online Reviews
Online search engines such as Google allow businesses to market their services to a wide customer base. Businesses may also be subject to online reviews which are...
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Lender can’t evict bona fide tenants from property notwithstanding mortgagor’s fraud
Monday, December 19, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationResidential Tenancies, Mortgage Fraud, Real Estate, Ontario Mortgages Act, Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, Mortgage
Courts must occasionally balance property interests between innocent parties who have been victimized by the dishonest or fraudulent conduct of another person. This may involve a conflict between...
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Insurer De-Listing: The Hidden Penalty of a Health Professions’ Discipline Committee Finding
Monday, December 12, 2022Lad KucisLitigation, Health LawDisciplinary Hearing
As a lawyer who regularly assists regulated health professionals (RHPs) in matters before their respective Discipline Committees, I wanted to alert RHPs about...
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Interlocutory injunction denied for failure to provide undertaking in damages
Friday, December 9, 2022Stephen A. Thiele, Alexander Melfi, Rob WintersteinLitigationRules of Civil Procedure, Interlocutory Injunction
An interlocutory injunction is a powerful and drastic remedy which Courts have said should only be granted sparingly. In that regard,...
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Letters Rogatory for disclosure in California divorce proceeding enforced in Ontario
Friday, December 9, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationCanada Evidence Act, Ontario Evidence Act
As a matter of international comity, Ontario courts will take steps to recognize and enforce requests for assistance issued by foreign courts provided that certain...
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Responding to Complaints Before the College of Chiropractors of Ontario: A Defence Lawyer’s Perspective
Thursday, December 8, 2022Lad KucisLitigation, Health LawComplaints, College of Chiropractors of Ontario
As legal counsel for chiropractors, we are regularly asked questions about the complaints process before the College of...
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Court orders production of subsequent lawyer’s file
Friday, December 2, 2022Stephen A. ThieleLitigationEvidence, Privilege, Solicitor-Client, Waiver
Although solicitor-client privilege is a fundamental civil and legal right belonging to a client, the right is not absolute and...
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Anti-SLAPP motion fails to stop Canadian Tire’s claim against alleged perpetrators of fraudulent after-sales service program
Friday, December 2, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationFraud, Courts of Justice Act, Anti-SLAPP
Motions under section 137.1 of the Ontario Courts of Justice Act (CJA) are typically brought to dismiss defamation claims involving expressions on matters of public interest. However, while the...
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Council Resolution Restricting Communications of Councillor Unreasonable and Punitive
Friday, December 2, 2022Stephen A. ThieleLitigationPolitical Law, Remedies, Integrity Commissioner, Judicial Review
Municipal governments are said to have the most influence on the day-to-day lives of residents. Accordingly, city staff and elected representatives, who in Ontario run as independent...
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Neighbour ordered to remove obstructions on mutual driveway
Thursday, December 1, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationReal Estate
As we discussed in a previous blog, an easement may become abandoned as a legal right as a result of prolonged lack of use. However, there is...
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Defamatory statements made in a pleading are immune to attack
Friday, November 25, 2022Stephen A. ThieleLitigationDefences, Torts, Defamation, Absolute Privilege
The law of defamation permits a defendant to raise specialized defences to defeat a claim. The most common defences are...
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