Writing for the Ontario Court of Appeal ("ONCA") in Gyorffy v Drury, 2015 ONCA 31, Justice Laskin upheld an award of non-pecuniary damages for injuries arising from a motor vehicle accident ("MVA"). The case hinged upon whether the Plaintiff was permitted to corroborate his own physician's evidence on his changed functioning after the accident. At trial, it was determined […]
Mr. Rasouli has been in a persistent vegetative state at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (“Sunnybrook”) since October 2010. For the past three years, he has been kept alive by way of mechanical ventilation and artificial nutrition and hydration. His doctors saw no prospect of recovery, and sought to withdraw Mr. Rasouli’s life support in order […]
In R v Brownson, 2013 ONCA 619 [Brownson], a decision released by the Ontario Court of Appeal on October 15, 2013, the court considered the appropriateness of allowing the Crown to amend an information against an accused person at an appeal hearing. An information – analogous to an indictment – is an accusation sworn by […]
How cell phones have changed in the last thirty years - though back then, they were “cellular telephones.” I remember the scene in John Hughes’ film, Sixteen Candles where the Geek, played by Anthony Michael Hall, is driving the Prom Queen home. He can’t drive and she can’t sit up straight. For those who have […]
Unholy Alliances? Gay-Straight Clubs, Catholic Opposition and Ontario’s Anti-Bullying Bill 13 The Canadian media has been awash with reports of support and opposition since the Ontario Minister of Education, Lauren Broten, announced the provincial government’s stance on certain amendments to the existing Education Act on May 25, 2012. Officially called the Accepting Schools Act (“ASA”), […]
Last weekend, both violent and peaceful political protestors gathered on the streets of Toronto to voice concerns surrounding the G20 World Leader’s Summit. Smashed windows, police cars ablaze and billiard balls thrown at riot squads were all occurrences at the Summit … all within 5 metres of the security fence. Demonstrators avoided this area after […]
On Wednesday, TheCourt.ca published a student post on the Supreme Court's decision to grant leave to appeal to R. v. Caron. Today we publish a second piece on Caron, which was intended to be published earlier but a glitch in our process caused a delay. It is important to note that the following comment was […]
On August 27th, the SCC granted the Alberta government leave to appeal in R. v. Caron, 2009 ABCA 34. Chief Justice McLachlin, Justice Abella and Justice Rothstein granted the leave application without costs and without reasons. Nevertheless, it seems absurd that making an unsafe left turn has turned into a four year long engagement with […]