Articles 2020

This past week, the Court of Appeal for Ontario provided us with several substantive and interesting civil decisions. Please find below our summaries of the civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario for the week of January 18.

Please find below our summaries of the civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario for the week of January 11. There were only three substantive civil decisions released this past week.

Only two civil decisions were released this week, one of them short. In Oakville (Town) v Sullivan, the Court’s first reported decision of 2021, the Court addressed an encroachment upon a hydro easement. Please mark down April 27, 2021, from 5:30-7:45pm in your calendars for our fifth annual “Top Appeals” CLE, which will take place via Zoom. Visit https://www.cbapd.org/details_en.aspx?id=ON_ON21CIV03I for more information and to register.

Chief Justice Strathy of the Court of Appeal for Ontario, Chief Justice Morawetz of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, and Chief Justice Maisonneuve of the Ontario Court of Justice, describe the courts' response to the COVID-19 crisis, and discuss efforts being undertaken to modernize Ontario's justice system.

Below are our last summaries of 2020. On another note, please mark down April 27, 2021, from 5:30-7:45pm in your calendars for our 5th annual “Top Appeals” CLE, which will be held via Zoom. I am pleased to announce that Justice Benjamin Zarnett will be co-chairing the event with me and Chloe Snider. Please register for the program on the OBA's website.

Following are our summaries of the past week’s civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario. The Court delivered a flurry of year-end decisions ahead of the holidays.

The following are our summaries of the civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for the week of December 7, 2020. We have also summarized R. v. Irwin, a provincial offences decision relating to Building Code violations, as it deals with the rule prohibiting collateral attacks of orders, and is therefore a decision applicable in the civil and administrative law context. Other topics covered include jurisdiction, reasonable apprehension of bias, occupier’s liability and family law.

Following are our summaries of the civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario. In Zoutman v Graham, the appellant’s delay of over 6 months in bringing an anti-SLAPP motion was fatal, as it subverted the intent & purpose of s.137.1 of the CJA, and where a defendant denies making the defamatory statements, an anti-SLAPP motion is unavailable. Other topics were rescission due to misrepresentation in a real estate contract, jurisdiction in the labour law context, and stay pending appeal.

There were only two civil decisions of any length released by the Court of Appeal this past week. However, in J.M.J. Family Trust v. Simcoe Block (1979) Limited, we are reminded that a debtor’s liability for “reasonable” legal fees incurred by a creditor enforcing a commercial agreement is not the same thing as liability for costs under the costs regime of the Rules.

Please find below our summaries of the civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for the week of November 16, 2020.