Articles 2021

BBL discussion at the April meeting touched on topics such as the legislative changes brought about by Bill 245, ongoing issues and inconsistencies with the practice of accepting electronic signatures, Estate Information Returns, and whether it is indeed possible to get a refund from the Ministry of Finance for excess probate fees.

At the March meeting of the OBA's BBL group, the discussion focussed on electronic filing and issuance of Certificates of Appointment of Estate Trustee, various issues with the process and electronic version of the Certificates, and direction members had received from the court staff.

What is ageism, and are we as estates practitioners guilty of it? This articles considers some common practices of estates lawyers that may be driven by unconscious bias against older people, and offers suggestions on how to adjust our practices to combat that bias.

At the January meeting of the Estates List Users Committee, topics discussed included wait times for probate applications and short scheduling appearances, and current practices for filing and putting materials before a judge.

In Del Giudice v Thompson, Perell J. provided valuable guidance to the class action bar regarding pre-certification communications with putative class members. This article reviews how the law in Ontario has developed and suggest that this decision—and in particular, Perell J.’s postface—offers a promising path forward.

Upcycled and reworked fashion has always been on trend, but has never quite been as popular as it has over the last year. With the pandemic pushing e-commerce to the forefront of retail, the ability to make, sell, or purchase reworked clothing has become increasingly accessible. While upcycled garments continue to serve as an artistic outlet and sustainable alternative to the apparel industry's massive waste problem, what does reworked fashion mean for trademark and IP owners?

The Technology and Construction Court in the United Kingdom recently considered the failure of a high-value digital transformation project and the eventual termination of the project agreement. The decision provides commentary on repudiatory breach, exclusion of liability for indirect damages, breach of warranty, and project delays, which provides a number of helpful points for consideration for technology lawyers.

With its recent decision in Desjardins Financial Services Firm Inc v Asselin, the Supreme Court of Canada highlighted and galvanized the suddenly stark jurisdictional differences between Canadian provinces, finding that, even as Ontario has taken legislative steps to raise the standard for class action certification, the existing law in Québec is to be interpreted on the loosest possible standard, short of authorizing frivolous claims.

It has been nearly nine years since the Ontario Court of Appeal’s unpaid overtime class action certification trilogy was released, settling the law regarding certification of unpaid overtime and employment misclassification class actions. With the benefit of the intervening years, what can be said now about the state of employment class actions in Ontario?