In a series of six landmark decisions on November 12th, 2013, the Court of Appeal for Ontario (ONCA) struck down the mandatory minimum sentences for possession of prohibited or restricted firearm (with ammunition either loaded or easily accessible; s. 95 of the Criminal Code). The decisions can be found as follows: R v Nur, 2013 […]
On November 15, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) will hear Peracomo Inc v Telus (“Peracomo”) a case where the sole officer and directing mind of a fishing company is trying to escape the consequences that stem from his deliberate decision to cut a telephone line cable. This case explicitly deals with Maritime Law. It […]
etucker 9.2720 Normal 0 Deaths due to occupational causes outnumber homicides in Canada by about two to one. Many of these deaths stem from negligence, and critics charge that enforcement measures are lax. In a major departure, a record fine for corporate criminal negligence was imposed in R v Metron Construction Corporation, 2013 ONCA 541, after four Toronto […]
In Arora v Whirlpool Canada LP, 2013 ONCA 657 [Whirlpool], a decision released by the Ontario Court of Appeal on October 31, 2013, the court upheld the denial of a class action certification claim by the motion judge (2012 ONSC 4642). The claim stemmed from the alleged poor design of front-loading washing machines manufactured by […]
In the wake of two recent Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) decisions, the partial defence of provocation has been narrowed. The SCC grappled with the legal interpretation of particularly ‘sympathetic’ moral circumstances underlying murder charges on appeal in R v Cairney, 2013 SCC 55 (Cairney), and R v Pappas, 2013 SCC 56 (Pappas). While the […]
Rob Ford’s admission that he did in fact smoke crack cocaine on video set off a political crisis at Toronto City Hall. It did not, however, trigger a legal crisis. This is because the law is very clear on Toronto city council’s authority to remove a sitting mayor from office—it can’t. Section 6(1) of Ontario’s […]
In legal terms, evaluating the form of a statement as a threat is a somewhat complicated matter. On a daily basis, individuals interact with one another using ever evolving idiosyncratic nuances, based largely upon their lifelong experiences of engaging in those precise types of interactions. What one person might take as a compliment another might […]
On October 31st, the Supreme Court decided three appeals concerned with certification of class action lawsuits. All three cases involved claims related to overcharging and price-fixing. In two cases, the class action was allowed to proceed, and in one, the application for certification was dismissed. Not only do the lawsuits represent millions of dollars in […]
Arbitration is simply exciting because it allows parties to design a framework by which to resolve their conflict. This immense flexibility, though, also means that parties may not explicate all of the necessary rules. Herein lies the question: should a reference to rules, one of which grants equitable remedies, be sufficient to grant the arbitrator […]