Articles 2021

A recent unanimous decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal in Kaynes v. BP p.l.c. provides welcome guidance to the class actions bar, as it confirms the circumstances in which an early-stage Rule 21 motion to challenge a statute-barred claim may be appropriate, and clarifies when a claim for fraudulent misrepresentation is discoverable under the Limitations Act.

Following are the summaries of last week's Court of Appeal decisions.

On February 16, 2021, Bill 245, the Accelerating Access to Justice Act, 2021, was introduced by the Ontario government to “improve access to justice for people across the system. If enacted, Bill 245 will make the most sweeping changes to the expropriation process in Ontario in a generation. This article considers the impact of the major proposed changes.

This article discusses the federal government's recent publication of the Greenhouse Gas Offset Credit System Regulations. These proposed regulations aim to govern offset projects in order to allow industrial emitters subject to the federal Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act to meet their compliance obligations by investing in projects that reduce or remove greenhouse gas emissions.

The Supreme Court of Canada's two recent decisions in C.M. Callow Inc. and Wastech Services Ltd. revisited and clarified the principles of good faith contractual performance formulated in Bhasin. While it remains to be determined whether the common law duty of good faith is different from the franchise-specific duty of good faith and fair dealing, these general principles of contract law have important implications for parties to the franchise relationship.

The recent decision of the Alberta Court of Appeal in 1777453 Alberta Ltd. v. Got Mold Disaster Recovery Services Inc. provides important insight into the calculation of net loss damages upon the termination of the Franchisee-Franchisor relationship. This article provides a brief of the case and analysis of how the Court clarified damages from a net loss perspective, along with other issues.

A review of recent court decisions addressing Criminal Code s. 278 applications in sexual-offence based cases where the records sought are youth records.

A link to the latest amendments to the Notice to the Profession - Toronto, which include updates to the Registrars in Bankruptcy section (Section F).

In a recent decision, the Court of Appeal for Ontario found that the University of Waterloo discriminated against a student applicant on the basis of disability in refusing admission. The decision provides helpful insight into how educational institutions can meet the substantive and procedural aspects of the duty to accommodate in their student admission processes.