Civil Litigation
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May 10, 2024
Cream and punishment | Marcel Strigberger
Ice cream bars? Not what you think. I don’t mean those delicious Häagen-Dazs ice cream bars on a stick. I mean legislation in Milan, Italy, about to bar people from eating ice cream on the streets after midnight. The reason given is to ensure “peace and tranquility” for its residents during the nights as apparently there are many noisy groups crowding the streets eating ice cream.
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May 10, 2024
Authorized Quebec consumer class actions being dismissed on the merits
Despite Quebec’s low threshold for the authorization of a class action, this does not appear to be any indication of the success of the case on the merits. Until recently, defendants facing an authorized class action often considered settlement negotiations with the plaintiff rather than going to trial. However, a series of recent decisions indicate that defendants may be wise to challenge plaintiff’s claims on the merits.
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May 10, 2024
Court dismisses motion, cites ‘culture of complacency’ and delays in civil justice system
An Ontario Superior Court judge has dismissed leave to bring a motion in a long-running business dispute, lashing out at constant delays and a culture of complacency in Ontario's civil justice system.
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May 10, 2024
Albertans need a ‘simpler, more affordable and stable’ auto insurance system: province
Alberta is once again seeking public input on automobile insurance as part of their quest to bring in lower rates for consumers while still maintaining the stability of the system. But an organization representing civil lawyers in the province is saying that adopting a “no-fault” system is not the best way to go, despite the province’s seeming embrace of it.
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May 09, 2024
B.C. court certifies class action against RateMDs over breach of health-care professionals’ privacy
The B.C. Supreme Court has certified a class action against popular health-care review website RateMDs Inc. over allegations that it breached provincial privacy law by posting profiles of health professionals and rating them on their website without consent.
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May 09, 2024
Terminated for failure to follow vaccination policy? No EI for you.
Are we done with COVID vaccination policy litigation? Not yet.
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May 09, 2024
2 new appointments to Federal Court announced
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Arif Virani announced the appointment of Michael Battista and Catharine Moore to the Federal Court of Appeal.
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May 09, 2024
Partial stays of procedure in favour of arbitration: All or nothing
What happens when a plaintiff brings an action where some of the relief sought falls within the scope of an arbitration clause, but the principal claim is unrelated? Does a judge let the action proceed in court on the basis that the essential character of the matter is non-arbitrable? Do they grant a stay in favour of arbitration because there is a sliver of matter that is subject to arbitration? Or, can the court grant a partial stay: can it stay those matters (and the relief sought) that are arguably subject to arbitration and let the rest go to court?
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May 09, 2024
Hope springs eternal
It may not be a prudent course of action to institute an opposition that exposes the opponent’s problems to scrutiny (D.M.C. SRL v. Giusti 2024 FC 605).
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May 09, 2024
IRCC’s inadequate online access for clients seeking immigration info ‘untenable’: federal watchdog
The years-long failure of the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to create a functional system to digitally communicate with would-be immigrants has pushed tens of thousands of IRCC clients (and their lawyers) to try to track the progress of their immigration applications via the access-to-information portals of the federal immigration department and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), says federal Information Commissioner Caroline Maynard, who called the status quo and resulting deluge of access to information requests “simply untenable.”