On September 17, the Court of Appeal for Ontario ("OCA") released its decision for Société Air France v. NAV Canada, 2010 ONCA 598, ordering production of the Air France Flight 358 aircraft’s "cockpit voice recorder" ("CVR") to the litigation parties. The CVR was previously held under statutory privilege. The decision confirmed the order made by […]
This November, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) will be revisiting the doctrine of entrapment in Aliu Imoro v. Her Majesty the Queen. The defense of entrapment claims that the defendant would not have broken the law if he or she had not been “tricked” into committing the offense by law enforcement officials. In Canada, the doctrine of […]
On September 16, the Court of Appeal for Ontario delivered its reasons in Ontario (Disability Support Program) v. Tranchemontagne, 2010 ONCA 593. The appellate decision is the latest event in an ongoing legal battle -- the case was previously litigated all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada to determine if the tribunal had […]
Limits of journalistic press freedom for qualified-privilege and fair comment are hotly debated in jurisdictions around the world as courts try to balance the public interest in freedom of information with private reputational interests battling defamation. Last year, TheCourt covered Grant v. Torstar Corp., 2009 SCC 61 ("Torstar Corp."), a decision that ranked as the top […]
R. v. Cornell 2010 SCC 31 is a Supreme Court case released on July 31st 2010 concerning the appropriateness and reasonableness of police conduct during a search of a private dwelling. This post is a new take on the judgment which was first reviewed here. The regulation of police powers is, unfortunately, a concern for […]
A few weeks ago the Ontario Court of Appeal (“OCA”) released its decision in D’Almeida v. Barron, 2010 ONCA 564, regarding a patient’s capacity to make treatment decisions. The OCA dismissed the appeal of Mesbur J.’s decision to uphold the Consent and Capacity Board’s (“the Board”) determination that the appellant, Stanley D’Almeida, is incapable of […]
You may have heard of the Merchant Law Group Inc., a full-service firm centered in Saskatchewan. It has been involved in numerous class actions, its most famous involving a claim against the government for the residential school abuses suffered by Canada’s First Nations communities. That action was marred by significant controversy surrounding the way in […]
The battle for private health care in Canada has hit another roadblock after the BC Court of Appeal’s recent judgment in Cambie Surgeries Corporation v. British Columbia (Medical Services Commission), 2010 BCCA 396. Groberman J., writing for an unanimous Court, held that the Medical Services Commission (“Commission”) of British Columbia is entitled to audit private […]
On September 2, the U.S. Justice Department brought a lawsuit against Joe Arpaio, an Arizona sheriff from Maricopa County who is best known for his aggressive crackdowns on illegal immigrants. The Justice Department had been investigating Mr. Arpaio’s division after critics alleged that the sheriff’s arrest sweeps amounted to racial profiling against Hispanic individuals. Negotiations […]
In December of this year, the Supreme Court of Canada will hear the Attorney General of Canada and the Attorney General of Ontario appeal the Ontario Court of Appeal (OCA) decision, Mavi v. Canada (Attorney General), 2009 ONCA 794 [Mavi]. At issue in the OCA decision was how the government should behave when enforcing promises, […]