On 20 February 2014, the Federal Court of Canada ("FCC"), in Voltage Pictures LLC v John Doe, 2014 FC 161, ordered that Teksavvy Solutions Inc. ("Teksavvy"), an Internet Service Provider, must release the names and addresses of 2,000 customers who allegedly downloaded copyrighted films. Voltage Pictures LLC ("Voltage"), a film production company that produced the Oscar-winning film The […]
Normal 0 Since 2001 there has been considerable turmoil at the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") surrounding collective bargaining rights under the Charter. During this period, two significant decisions have appeared to shift the Court towards recognizing a constitutional right to collective bargaining. As a result, a trial judge in Saskatchewan took the audacious step […]
Google, as part of a settlement with European competition regulators, has conceded some ground in the European search market by agreeing to display competitor results in its search results. These concessions will be the most significant that Google has made in response to an antitrust inquiry to date. The proposed settlement still requires approval from […]
In Kozel v The Personal Insurance Company, 2014 ONCA 130 [Kozel], a decision released on February 19, 2014, the Ontario Court of Appeal considered the scope of relief from forfeiture pursuant to section 98 of the Courts of Justice Act, RSO 1990, c C.43 [CJA], in the context of an automobile insurance claim.
Last November, the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") decided that Alberta's Personal Information Protection Act, SA 2003 c P-6.5, which, inter alia, had the effect of preventing unions from filming individuals crossing a picket line, was an unjustifiable violation of the constitutional right to freedom of expression (for more, see the commentary by Avnish Nanda and […]
After finding the mandatory minimum sentence for drug possession for the purpose of trafficking (contrary to s. 5(2) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, SC 1996, c 19 [CDSA]) violated s. 12 of the Charter (R v Lloyd, 2014 BCPC 8 (CanLII) [Lloyd]) in January 2014, Galati J. of the Provincial Court of British Columbia has […]
Late last year, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear two cases challenging the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s (“Obamacare”) contraception mandate, with oral arguments to take place in March. At issue in Sebelius v Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. [Hobby Lobby] and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v Sebelius [Conestoga Wood], which will be consolidated […]
Ever since the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC"), in Dunsmuir v New Brunswick, [2008] 1 SCR 190 [Dunsmuir], developed a "more coherent and workable" framework for judicial review of administrative decisions, lower courts have had difficulty applying the SCC's standard of review analysis. Misapplication generally involves a lower court undertaking a correctness review where a reasonableness standard is […]
Lillian Schelew and her four sons, Jeffrey, Michael, Bernard, and Alan, have been involved in residential real estate leasing since the 1970s. Jamb Enterprises Ltd ("Jamb") was owned by the four brothers equally, and Bram Enterprises Ltd ("Bram") was owned by four brothers equally with Lillian Schelew holding a separate class of preferred voting shares. […]
Normal 0 Statutes of limitations are intended to add clarity to the litigation process but, ironically, sometimes have the opposite effect. Ontario's Limitations Act, 2002, SO 2002, c 24, Sch B [Limitations Act], was meant to reduce the multitude of different limitation periods with the aim of having a two-year limitation on most types of actions. […]