Following are our summaries of the civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario for the week of March 24, 2025.
In Sutherland Estate v Murphy, the Court confirmed that section 11(c) of the Charter (the right not to be compelled to testify against oneself) applies in the context of civil contempt. The Court allowed the appeal from a finding of contempt, determining that the motion judge infringed the appellant’s rights under s.11(c) by compelling him to testify in his own contempt proceeding and erred in relying on that testimony to find the appellant guilty of a contempt that was neither admitted nor proven on the requisite standard.
In Ross v. Luypaert, a sibling dispute over their parents’ property, the Court dismissed an appeal from an order for the sale of a property and for possession of another.
In Kassabian v Marcarian, the Court dismissed the appeal from the trial judge’s determination following a two day trial of the parties’ date of separation as being May 16, 2021, rather than December 10, 2014.