SCC Poised for Retirement Boom In case you weren't keeping track, seven of the Supremes will be eligible to retire by next year. "The impending retirements could give Prime Minister Stephen Harper, or whoever succeeds him as prime minister, a rare opportunity to overhaul the top court’s composition and thereby perhaps influence or reshape the […]
Earlier this month, the Federal Court of Appeal ("FCA") released its decision in Canada v J Hudon Enterprises Ltd, 2010 FCA 37, a case that asks whether, in the context of horse racing, the proportion of prize money awarded to drivers and trainers after a successful performance at the track is subject to GST.
A while back, we promised we would compile a list of our top judgments from 2009 in a number of categories. And so, at the risk of diverting the nation's attention from our top athletes at the Olympics, we present to you the First Annual Ozzy Awards (named in recognition both of our school and […]
The arduous judicial process for the families of victims of one of Canada’s worst mining disasters has finally ended. Last Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") released reasons in Fullowka v Pinkerton’s of Canada Ltd., 2010 SCC 5 [Fullowka], concluding six years of civil litigation stemming from the fatal 1992 explosion at the Giant Mine […]
Friday's equivocal Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") decision in R v Nasogaluak, 2010 SCC 6 [Nasogaluak], can be viewed both as upholding mandatory minimum sentences and as "a noteworthy chink in the previously impenetrable wall" of mandatory minimums. The Court held that, despite conclusive evidence of a Charter violation emanating from police violence, the sentencing judge had no […]
Khadr's Lawyers Blast Government's 'Perverse' Reaction The Harper government showed bias and bad faith and acted in a "perverse" manner by not requesting the return of Omar Khadr from Guantanamo Bay, or so say Khadr's lawyer's in their filings this week, according to The Globe and Mail. The lawyers' move comes just days after the Canadian […]
Last week, Tercon v Ministry of Transportation and Highways, 2010 SCC 4, the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") revisited the doctrine of fundamental breach. While in Hunter Engineering Co v Syncrude Canada Ltd, [1989] 1 SCR 426 [Syncrude], the Court had previously professed to abandon the doctrine, the competing approaches offered in that judgement raised questions as to when […]
Almost eight years ago, the Ontario Court of Appeal ("ONCA") set out an eight-factor test in Muscutt v Courcelles (2002), 60 OR (3d) 20 [Muscott], to determine what circumstances Ontario could take jurisdiction over an out-of-province defendant. The OCA held that there must be a “real and substantial connection” between the dispute and forum for taking jurisdiction […]
On December 17 of last year, the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") handed down its decision in R v Dudley, 2009 SCC 58 [Dudley], which dealt with some of the finer points of criminal procedure; specifically, in the case of "hybrid" or "dual procedure" offences, whether the Crown's invalid election to proceed summarily outside of the limitation period […]
If there's anything that can come close to being a guaranteed money-maker these days, it's probably a casino. Any disagreement about who gets to share in the spoils of owning a casino is almost sure to go before a judge. So when Ontario's First Nations got into a dispute about who was getting what of […]