Pensions are often the lifeline for the millions of pension holders once they retire. Pension plans also fluctuate in value if parts of the funds are invested in securities. In such cases, actuarial surpluses occur when a fund’s assets are greater than the actuarial estimate of the pension plan’s liabilities, and sometimes it is not […]
On February 12, 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada heard an appeal from the Alberta Court of Appeal’s decision in Bhasin v Hrynew, 2013 ABCA 98. My previous analysis of the ruling can be found here on The Court. Lawyers for the plaintiff and the defendants made their oral submissions before Chief Justice McLachlin, along […]
On 24 February 2014, the Ontario Divisional Court allowed the certification of a class action on the basis that the need to ensure that the plaintiffs received access to justice outweighed the difficulties that their many individual issues could produce for a trial: Cavanaugh v Grenville Christian College, 2014 ONSC 290 [Cavanaugh]. This case is […]
Sabina Mexis 9.2720 Normal 0 The final act in an eleven year long class proceeding has concluded with Smith v Inco Ltd, 2013 ONCA 724. The defendant Inco had successfully defended itself against the claim for damages in the class action. Here, it sought to recover legal costs of over $5 million. Inco was awarded a still […]
Last Wednesday, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments for Halliburton Co v Erica P. John Fund, thereby revisiting the contentious “fraud-on-the-market” principle adopted in the 1988 case of Basic Inc v Levinson, 485 US 224 (1988). The principle works as follows: open and developed securities markets are efficient and all relevant information about […]
On February 21, 2014, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice released its decision regarding remedies in Canada (Commissioner of Competition) v Chatr Wireless Inc., 2014 ONSC 1146 [Chatr]. This case stemmed from allegations by the Commissioner of Competition against Chatr Wireless Inc. (“Chatr Wireless”) in relation to claims made by the telecommunications company about it […]
In R v Babos, 2014 SCC 16 [Babos], the issue was whether the Crown misconduct, in the form of intimidation and threats, was severe enough to warrant a stay of proceedings for the accused. A 6-1 majority of the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) has held that prosecutorial misconduct or abuse of process must be […]
Ajitpal Singh Sekhon attempted to drive a pickup truck across the border from Washington State into British Columbia on January 25, 2005. He was flagged for secondary inspection by Canadian customs officials, which led to the discovery of 50 one-kilogram bricks of cocaine – valued over $1.5 million – hidden inside a secret compartment in […]