Last Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered its long awaited judgment in Opitz v Wrzesnewskyj, [2012] 3 SCR 76 [Opitz]. The material facts and the operative parts of the lower court decision on the matter have been covered by TheCourt.ca here and here. As a result, in this post, I focus only on the Supreme Court of […]
On 12 October 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") released its judgment on R v Prokofiew, [2012] 2 SCR 639 [Prokofiew], which finally demystifies s. 4(6) of the Canada Evidence Act, RSC, 1985, c C-5 [CEA]. This section provides that the failure of an accused to testify “shall not be made the subject of comment by the […]
This is the second part of a two-part post regarding R v DC and R v Mabior. Part I looked at the incremental change in the law that these cases represent and the questions that were left unanswered by the SCC. Part I can be found here. On October 5, 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") released its highly […]
On October 19, 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada released its judgment in R v Cole, [2012] 3 SCR 34 [Cole]. The decision on the search and seizure of child pornography on a work-issued laptop was highly anticipated not only by criminal lawyers but those in labour and employment law as well. Although not subject to the […]
How much of a party’s submissions can a judge incorporate into the judgment without attribution? Setting aside issues of honesty in scholarship, the Court will have the opportunity to address the duties and responsibilities of judges in Eric Victor Cojocaru, et al. v. British Columbia Women's Hospital and Health Center, et al. At stake is […]
Today, at 9:45 AM, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered judgment in Opitz v Wrzesnewskyj 2012 SCC 55. The case was launched by defeated Liberal incumbent Borys Wrzesnewskyj, who lost his Etobicoke-Centre seat in the 2011 Federal election to Conservative Ted Opitz by 26 votes. Wrzesnewskyj and his lawyers were able to convince Justice Lederer of the […]
In R v CD, 2012 ONCA 696 the Ontario Court of Appeal unanimously substituted a 30-month prison sentence for a two-year conditional sentence due to the "extraordinary" circumstances of the facts of the case. The appellant was a quadriplegic convicted of multiple counts of sexual assault against a minor living in the house above the […]
Last December, the Court of Appeal for Ontario decided in favour of the Minister of Transportation, finding that highway construction that rerouted traffic (i.e. customers) away from an existing highway was not a sufficient ground for compensation for business owners. Antrim Truck Centre operated a truck stop on Highway 17 outside Ottawa for almost thirty […]
On October 15, 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada heard an appeal by Telus Communications to quash a General Warrant and Assistance Order to produce daily records of all text messages sent and received by two Telus subscribers in connection with a police investigation. The main issue in this case is whether a General Warrant […]
This morning, the SCC dismissed the appeal and cross-appeal in Canada v. GlaxoSmithKline Inc., 2012 SCC 52, a highly anticipated decision dealing with transfer pricing under s. 69(2) (now s.247(2)) of the Income Tax Act. The Minister of National Revenue reassessed Glaxo Canada for the taxation years 1990, 1991, 1992, and 1993 on the basis […]