Articles 2023

In this article, an anonymous member of the OBA discusses their experience with making mistakes in their legal practice and the resources available to avoid making mistakes in the future.

In this article, Birute Luksenaite talks about her first experience doing a spot-audit and the lessons she's learned along the way.

In this article, Harold Arkin uses two case studies from his personal injury practice to illustrate how an impasse in motor vehicle mediation can be solved with the passage of time and the cooling of passions - but as with anything in dispute resolution, there are no guarantees.

Please find below our summaries of the civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for the week of April 12, 2021. The Court addressed the interpretation of a commitment letter for a commercial loan cancelled by the lender as a result of the borrower’s failure to satisfy the conditions of financing, statutory assignment and trust provisions of section 267.8 of the Insurance Act, and equalization payments in a family law decision.

The Ontario Court of Appeal recently ruled that systemic negligence claims against governments are indeed a tenable avenue for class-wide recovery. While the decision in Francis v. Ontario is the third time in two years that the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled solitary confinement is unconstitutional, it was the first time a Canadian appellate court made an aggregate damages award for systemic negligence in the context of a judgment.

A great deal has been written, particularly since the recent U.S. Congressional campaign, studying the increasing predominance and impact of harmful language directed towards female candidates and politicians on social media platforms. Although few female politicians could discount the benefits of using social media to connect with and mobilize their constituency, the impacts of online sexism, harassment and threats disproportionately targeted at female politicians online is undeniable.

The article discusses the case of Hicks v Ontario Ombudsman and orders under s.140 of the Courts of Justice Act determining someone to be a vexatious litigant.

For young persons who become involved in both the youth criminal and family court systems, the lawful sharing or exchanging of information between them is often legally complex and fraught with the potential for errors. A case comment on Children’s Aid Society of the Districts of Sudbury and Manitoulin v. A.A., 2021 ONCJ 188.

Please find below our summaries of the civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for the week of April 5, 2021. Topics covered this week included child protection, the enforcement of guarantees of debt, security for costs of an appeal in a mortgage enforcement case, a motion to grant a stay pending appeal, and the striking of a claim on the basis that the named plaintiff did not have the legal capacity to sue.