Articles 2023

Among the summaries for this past week’s civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario is Dermann v. Baker, 2019 ONCA 584, in which the Court considered the qualifying of certain witnesses as experts for the purposes of r. 53.03 of the Rules of Civil Procedure, the standard of review for a trial judge’s charge to the jury in a civil trial, and costs assessments in the context of payments made in advance, and offers to settle.

On May 29, 2019, the Administrative Law, Constitutional, Civil Liberties & Human Rights and Labour & Employment Law sections joined together for The Annual Update on Human Rights. The first presentation developed into a heated debate regarding changes within the newly reformed Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO). The panelists were Linda Lamoureux, executive chair of Tribunals Ontario, and Jonathan Batty, Human Rights Tribunal.

Following are the summaries for this past week’s civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario.

This week’s key decision was Reference re Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act. The Act was found to be constitutional. The Court determined the main thrust of the Act was to establish minimal national standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Act falls within Parliament’s power to legislate on matters of national concern for the peace, order, and good government of Canada, and the charges it imposes are not unconstitutional.

Canada’s subsidies of fossil fuels (particularly diesel) support over-fishing by industrial fleets, and undermine the progress of recent amendments to the Fisheries Act to rebuild devastated marine fish and shark populations. More attention and concrete action through World Trade Organization law reform is needed to transition Canada out of fuel subsidies and ultimately enhance fish and shark stocks.

The OBA hosted another Privacy Summit in 2019. This article provides an overview of the developments in privacy jurisprudence, as discussed during a 3-member panel presentation at the Summit.

An insightful reminder of the need for family law lawyers to consider their clients' domestic situations in terms of how and when to move a file forward. Steve Benmor shares his experience, including how he has faced these challenges in his own practice, including details gleaned form his training in mediation and domestic violence screening.

Elder abuse can take many forms, including financial, physical, psychological (mental or emotional) and sexual abuse to name a few. Neglect can also be a form of abuse.