Articles 2021

Litigators can use the Rules of Civil Procedure to better advantage; Kimberly Boara Alexander suggests how.

Following are this week’s summaries of the civil decisions. Ingarra v. 3010999 Ontario Limited (Previn Court Homes) is a reminder to residential real estate lawyers that their clients purchasing new homes have added rights under the Tarion legislation regarding extensions of the closing date. In Zhao v. Li, the Court of Appeal distinguished between singular and ongoing acts of oppression. Other topics included a large fraud against a foreign pension fund.

In a landmark decision, Yenovkian v. Gulian, released December 19, 2019, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice recognized the privacy tort of “publicity placing a person in a false light” for the first time in Canada.

David Rainsberry asks how lawyers can be incentivized to change how they engage with conflict resolution processes and improve access to justice.

Following are this week’s summaries of the Court of Appeal for Ontario. In Thistle v Schumilias, an insurer refused to pay out on a life insurance policy on the basis that the insured had failed to disclose a pre-existing medical condition. The respondent commenced an action against the insurance company and during that litigation became aware of the potential professional negligence of the insurance agent who sold the policy.

Following are our summaries of the Court of Appeal for Ontario released during the week of January 27. The theme of the week was real property and condominiums.

Topics covered last week included the proper notice of proceedings against the provincial Crown, the tort of battery, costs in an unsuccessful claim against a school board, the tort of conversion and setting aside default judgments in the context of an alleged breach of an agreement of purchase and sale of land.

There were several substantive decisions released this week by the Court of Appeal. Topics covered included challenging decisions of a voluntary religious association, solicitor liens, limitation periods in the LTD context, enforcement of foreign judgments, adverse possession, and an application for reconsideration of an appeal relating to the assessment of legal accounts in the condominium law context.

There were three civil decisions released by the Court of Appeal this week. Topics covered included the apportionment of costs following settlement of an MVA case, the admissibility of documents in a personal injury case, and Anti-SLAPP.

Following are our summaries of the civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario released during the week of December 23.