ADR
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July 10, 2025
Thirty days to trigger mediation: A deadline or a minimum waiting period?
Multitiered dispute resolution clauses — also known as “step clauses” — are common in commercial contracts containing agreements to arbitrate. Especially in sectors like construction, architecture, engineering and professional services, parties often agree that disputes must first go through informal negotiation, then mediation, before finally proceeding to arbitration.
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July 03, 2025
Court: B.C.’s new arbitration ban doesn’t apply in Rogers customer dispute over $1M hacking loss
In one of the first tests of British Columbia's amended consumer protection law, the B.C. Supreme Court has allowed a bid by telecom giant Rogers to block court action in favor of arbitration in a case where a customer’s phone was hacked, allegedly resulting in her losing an estimated $1 million in Bitcoin. The court found that the amended legislation, which prohibits mandatory arbitration clauses and class action waivers in consumer contracts, did not apply retroactively despite a transitional provision.
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June 16, 2025
SCC clarifies how to determine child’s ‘habitual residence’ in non-Hague Convention custody disputes
In upholding an Ontario Superior Court’s assumption of jurisdiction over an international custody dispute, the Supreme Court of Canada has given guidance on how courts should determine the habitual residence of children allegedly wrongly taken or withheld by a parent from a foreign jurisdiction that has not signed onto the Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (Hague Convention).
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June 12, 2025
Group urges Ontario to allow for restorative justice in sexual violence cases
A global organization promoting alternatives to the criminal legal system for survivors of sexual violence is urging the Ontario government to change a policy that makes sexual violence cases ineligible for community justice programs.
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June 11, 2025
Ontario Court of Appeal upholds lower court decision denying Amazon drivers’ $250M class action
In a victory for Amazon Canada, the Ontario Court of Appeal has upheld a lower court decision rejecting a proposed $250-million class-action lawsuit against the online retailing giant by 73,000 delivery drivers over alleged breach of employment contracts.
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June 10, 2025
Canada’s top judge declares ‘in this country, the rule of law is non-negotiable’
Lawyers, as officers of the court, have a professional “responsibility and obligation” to defend the rule of law and the independence of the bar and judiciary against attacks, Chief Justice of Canada Richard Wagner said at his annual news conference in Ottawa.
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June 10, 2025
N.W.T. court stays legal proceedings in favour of arbitration, despite unsigned contract
A Northwest Territories Supreme Court judge has sent a construction dispute involving the Inuit land settlement authority to arbitration, even though the contract stipulating arbitration was never signed.
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June 09, 2025
Court dismisses Telus’s motion to amend class action certification on consumer definition
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has denied Telus’s motion to amend a class action certification that alleged that its customers “were subjected to the undisclosed practice of ‘rounding up’ the charge on calls to the next minute.”
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June 04, 2025
Court allows contempt motion in trademark case for social media videos
The Federal Court has found a corporate plaintiff’s director in contempt of court for posting videos on social media relating to the mediation process to settle trademark litigation.
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June 04, 2025
Court decision points to continuing problems with Ontario’s tribunal system, says watchdog group
A recent Ontario Superior Court ruling helps illustrate the continuing struggles being faced by the province’s tribunal system, and the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) in particular, says a watchdog group.