Blog
Blog
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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Court declines to intervene in dispute over governance of not-for-profit clubs
Friday, November 25, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationNot-for-Profit/Charities
Members of not-for-profit organizations should generally try to resolve their differences pursuant to their rules and by-laws before...
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Amendments to professional negligence claim denied following tardy expert report
Monday, November 21, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationRules of Civil Procedure, Negligence
Pleadings frame an action and determine the evidence that will be called at trial. The rules of pleadings generally require that...
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Home owner obtains certificate of pending litigation to stop power of sale
Friday, November 18, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationReal Estate, Courts of Justice Act
Parties who are seeking an interest in a property may seek to register a certificate of pending litigation (CPL) on title for the...
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Damages in a defamation action
Friday, November 18, 2022Stephen A. ThieleLitigationDamages, Torts, Defamation
Reputational harm is serious. It can have devastating impacts on the person whose reputation has...
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Female mining executive’s defamation claim against government employee allowed to proceed
Tuesday, November 15, 2022Stephen A. ThieleLitigationTorts, SLAPP, Defamation
Ontario and British Columbia are the only two common law provinces that have anti-SLAPP legislation. This legislation permits the early dismissal of claims that...
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In-house lawyer breached fiduciary obligations by negotiating self-interested agreements
Tuesday, November 15, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationGeneral Counsel Agreement, Unanimous Shareholder Agreement
Lawyers entering into business relationships with their clients should generally ensure that the clients receive meaningful independent legal advice on any agreement...
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Therapists not personally liable for debts of bankrupt sports medicine clinic
Thursday, November 10, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationSports, Bankruptcy, COVID-19, Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, Business Corporations Act
A creditor who sees the owners of a bankrupt company start up a new profitably-looking business while walking away from the prior company’s debts may understandably feel that they have...
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Limitation Period bars claim for breach of Assignment of Agreement of Purchase and Sale
Wednesday, November 9, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationAgreement of Purchase and Sale, Real Estate, Limitation Periods, Limitations Act, 2002
In Ontario, there is a general two-year limitation period for claims relating to a breach of contract which starts on the day when a plaintiff discovers that damage from a breach occurred and knows that a legal proceeding would be an...
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Summons issued against Premier Ford valid but unenforceable because of parliamentary privilege
Monday, November 7, 2022Stephen A. ThieleLitigationPolitical Law, Public Inquiries, Summons, Parliamentary Privilege
There has been much political debate over the past few weeks about Premier Ford’s and Deputy Premier Jones’s refusal to voluntarily testify at the federal public inquiry into...
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Nephew not entitled to verbal life interest in aunt’s property
Friday, November 4, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationReal Estate
Living arrangements between adult family members are often informal and based upon the nature of their close relationship rather...
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75-day house arrest ordered for contempt in a defamation case
Wednesday, November 2, 2022Stephen A. ThieleLitigationTorts, Contempt of Court, Defamation
In a previous blog dated June 30, 2022, my colleague James Cook wrote about the award granted to a university....
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Anonymization and sealing requests in Ontario civil proceedings
Tuesday, November 1, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationRules of Civil Procedure, Real Estate, Courts of Justice Act
Closed proceedings, sealing orders and publication bans are rare in civil actions in Ontario. When a court decision in a civil proceeding is published it normally bears the names of the parties in the title of...
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Commission not owing to agent under conditional agreement of purchase and sale
Monday, October 31, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationReal Estate, GTA Real Estate
Often, an agreement to purchase real estate will have a conditional period to allow for various steps to be completed by either the buyer or...
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Negligence claim against lawyer who obtained restraining order against a non-party dismissed
Thursday, October 27, 2022Stephen A. Thiele, Anna Husa, Gavin J. TigheLitigationNegligence, Professional Liability, Duty of Care, Non-client
Causes of action typically require a plaintiff to prove specific elements in order to succeed. In a claim for negligence, the plaintiff must prove (i) that there was a duty of care owed by...
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Defamation claim defeated as the statements were substantially true
Wednesday, October 26, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationSummary Judgment
Sometimes the most efficient way to defeat a defamation claim is to prove the defence of justification—namely, that the impugned statements that are alleged to be...
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Business founder required to disgorge profits from competing powder-coating business
Monday, October 24, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationFiduciary Duties, Licensing Agreements
One of the essential obligations of someone who enters into a business venture with other shareholders of a small corporation is...
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City Councillor’s disclosure of confidential material to own lawyer breaches Code of Conduct
Friday, October 21, 2022Stephen A. ThieleLitigationPolitical Law, Member of Council, Breach, Code of Conduct
In Ontario, members of municipal council are obligated to behave according to codes of conduct adopted by their respective...
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Broad discovery and social media disclosure affirmed in Muzzo ats Neville-Lake
Friday, October 21, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationSocial Media
In September 2015, a tragic collision between a Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by a driver under the influence of...
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Pro-life group’s defamation claim against “online protestor” allowed to proceed
Monday, October 17, 2022Stephen A. ThieleLitigationSocial Media, Courts of Justice Act
Social media continues to be a fertile ground for the development of the law. Social media has become a tool for significant political debate and...
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Lessons in a professional liability claim
Tuesday, October 11, 2022Stephen A. Thiele, James R.G. Cook, Eli BordmanLitigationLimitations Act, 2002, Mortgage Brokerages, Lender and Administrators Act
Professional liability actions provide good teaching lessons for future plaintiffs and defendants and their legal representatives. Although a plaintiff may firmly believe that they have a valid cause of...
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Lawyer’s defamation action allowed to proceed in Small Claims Court
Monday, August 29, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationSmall Claims Court, 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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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. ThieleLitigation
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. CookLitigationRules 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. ThieleLitigationPolitical 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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