Articles 2021

In an interview with Insurance Law Section member-at large Harold Geller, Sandra LeBrun, in-house counsel at Aviva Trial Lawyers (Ottawa Office), talks about her career path, her involvement in the insurance bar and broader legal community, her most memorable court appearance, her advice for junior lawyers, and more.

This article is the first of several in the series and looks at how defamation actions differ from other types of proceedings.

The Quebec Court of Appeal decision in Constellation Brands US Operations Inc. v. Société de vin internationale ltée 2021 QCCA 1664 has received a lot of attention for its discussion of when comparative advertising constitutes infringement and whether comparative advertising can depreciate goodwill. However, the case is noteworthy for its consideration of the court’s discretion to refuse to grant an accounting of profits after having found infringement, and this merits more discussion.

Following are our summaries of the civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario for the week of March 7, 2022.

This article outlines the "Ontario HVAC Scam," which exploits loopholes in consumer protection laws and the real property registration system to dupe unsuspecting homeowners.

In a motion to pursue a class action against the Ontario Provincial Police brought by Caledonia residents arising from Caledonia’s road and rail blockade by protestors in 2020, the Superior Court invalidated the mandatory stay arising from section 17 of the CLPA due to its inconsistency with section 96 of the Constitution Act.

In Greenwood, the Federal Court of Appeal certified a claim in systemic negligence. While this may be surprising to some given existing jurisprudence suggesting that negligence for workplace harassment claims are not viable causes of action, in this case certification of this cause of action rested on a very narrow exception – that the claims belonged to individuals who experienced workplace harassment, but who did not have written or unwritten contracts of employment.