Articles 2025

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.

Highlights of this newsletter include one pension-related item in the Ontario 2021 Budget relating to the Pension Benefits Guarantee Fund (PBGF), a number of new guidance documents and publications from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA), policy updates from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), and new FAQs and directives from the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI).

This article lays out the basics of the tax implications, and complications, that social media influencers face.

Deemed realizations under the Income Tax Act (Canada) (ITA) can occur for a myriad of reasons.  Regarding trusts, the ITA may deem a realization to occur depending on the type of trust, and the happening of certain triggering events – most commonly death, emigration, or the expiration of a specified time period.  If nothing is done to plan for these rules, the deemed realization of the assets will result in the accrued gains on certain trust-held assets being subject to tax.   

This article explores the avenues taxpayers have to efficiently manage their tax disputes in two parts. The first part discusses whether to proceed through the CRA Appeals process. The second part will discuss the avenues available for an early resolution at the Tax Court.