Articles 2023

Joint ownership of property is one of the most commonly used strategies for property ownership in the context of developing an estate plan. There are specific nuances that must be addressed when dealing with jointly owned life insurance.

In the last few years the momentum for change has grabbed hold of the construction industry in Canada, and pulled tight on the reins. Several provinces, as well as the federal government, have been grappling with the issue of prompt payment on construction projects, and trying to determine how best to incorporate the rights and concerns of the most vulnerable parties who are lower down the pyramid: the construction trades.

Following are summaries of this week’s civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario, including Ontario Inc. v. Maple Leafs Foods Inc., in which the Court decided Maple Leafs Foods did not have a duty not to harm the reputation or profits of Mr. Sub franchisees who sold Maple Leaf meats; and, on the Criminal Law front, the Court's decision in R. v. Forcillo, in which the appeal from the conviction of the constable for attempted murder was dismissed.

During the April BBL, the group discussed a number of issues, including the impact of posthumous conception on estate planning, revocation clauses, and submitting a court certified copy of a will to probate where the original will was retained in the jurisdiction in which it was originally probated.

In Amaya, the Quebec Court of Appeal reinforced the legislative purpose of the leave requirement in secondary market class actions, as being the protection of public issuers and their long-term shareholders, and not the plaintiff-shareholders., holding that "the purpose of the screening mechanism [is] to deter opportunistic or abusive litigation by plaintiff-shareholders who inappropriately wish to take advantage of the favourable conditions for secondary market actions against issuers."

What is an accelerator, incubator and eco-bator and which is most appropriate for your start-up?

Topics covered this week included two procedural fairness decisions (one relating to interpreting a contract in a way neither party argued, the other relating to the effect of a lengthy adjournment mid-trial), repair and storage liens in the automobile insurance context, the tort of conversion, as well as several short procedural decisions.

In Wallbridge v. Brunning, the Court of Appeal held that whether a law firm can be vicariously liable for defamatory statements made by a lawyer who practices “in association” with it, is an issue of general importance that should be determined at a trial and not on a motion for summary judgment. Other topics covered this week included several wills and estates matters, wrongful dismissal, family law (custody and abduction), limitation periods and some procedural matters.

Sydney Lederman plead guilty to securities fraud and was sentenced to jail on April 13, 2018, for selling a senior citizen securities in a defunct corporation for the price of $90,000 that he fraudulently claimed were worth $3 million but were, in fact, worthless.

Topics discussed at the March Brown Bag Lunch include wait times for Applications for a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee, the production of medical records, estates involving digital assets, and bitcoin.