Articles 2024

Summaries of this week's OCA decisions (non-criminal). There was one substantial civil law decision from the Court of Appeal this week, along with a number of shorter endorsements. The more substantive decision was an insurance case where a home insurer tried to bring a subrogated claim against its own insured in order to access the insured’s auto policy. The court confirmed that an insurer cannot sue its insured for the very loss covered.

The Court of Appeal released a number of civil decisions this week. Topics include whether an assessment officer has the jurisdiction to rule on the enforceability of a contingency fee agreement between a lawyer and client, personal injury, summary judgment, the waiver of conditions of closing on a real estate transaction, wrongful dismissal and claims between insurers in the statutory accident benefits context.

In Chevron Corp. v. Yaiguage, 2015 SCC 42, the Supreme Court of Canada held that the only prerequisite to the recognition and enforcement of a foreign judgment is that the foreign court had a real and substantial connection with the litigants or the subject matter of the dispute, or that the traditional bases of jurisdiction were satisfied. There is no separate requirement to demonstrate a real and substantial connection between the dispute or the defendant and the enforcing forum.

In a recent decision, the Ontario Superior Court awarded costs on a partial indemnity scale which constituted 75% of the costs actually incurred by the successful party.

“Collegiality is vital amongst civil litigators - even when on opposing sides, it is a shared endeavour as an administration of justice."

The one substantive civil decision this week involved an appeal of a motion judge’s order that a garnished bank account enjoyed diplomatic immunity and was thus not subject to garnishment. The court only dealt with the preliminary question of whether hearing the appeal was premature, having regard to Libya’s pending rule 38.11 motion in Superior Court to set the underlying order aside. The appeal was adjourned sine die and the stay of enforcement was continued pending the outcome of the motion.

There were four civil decisions released by the Court of Appeal this week. Areas covered include condo law, administrative dismissals for delay, and two custody and access decisions in high conflict cases (one very high conflict).