Articles 2023

In Sjostrom Sheet Metal Ltd. v. Geo A. Kelson Company Limited, 2023 ONSC 4959, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice affirmed several key legal principles, including the importance of carefully drafted pleadings, the validity of oral contracts, the significance of good record-keeping in quantifying damages, adherence to contractual default notice provisions, and the consequences that may flow from ambiguous or incomplete change orders.

In response to Walsh Construction v. Toronto Transit Commission et al., 2024 ONSC 2782, the Superior Court has a offered a number of valuable takeaways for the construction industry and construction law practitioners, including counsel and arbitrators, regarding what can be expected in the resolution of a complex construction claim.

Section 30 Children’s Law Reform Act assessments are used to evaluate the needs of a child and the ability of parents to meet those needs, aiming to serve the child's best interests. These assessments, performed by qualified professionals, provide objective insights into family dynamics and parental capabilities. However, their high cost and the shortage of assessors create significant barriers to justice, making it difficult for many families to access these crucial evaluations.

In this edition of the OBA Health Law’s Section Insider, we spoke with the 2024 recipient of the Susan Davidson Memorial Award for Excellence in Health Law, Justice Ira Parghi. Here’s what she had to say.

Procedural fairness is critical to conducting appropriate workplace investigations and is a central component of ensuring objectivity and propriety in the investigation process. As illustrated in this recent Federal Court decision, a failure to ensure the procedural fairness of an investigation can be fatal to its ultimate findings – or invalidate the investigation entirely.

In a significant decision for unionized workers in Ontario, the Divisional Court confirmed that the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario and labour arbitrators share concurrent jurisdiction to determine employment-based human rights claims arising in unionized workplaces.