The Complete Brief
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April 28, 2025
Quebec appeal court confirms ruling finding provisions abolishing school boards unconstitutional
The Quebec Court of Appeal confirmed that certain provisions of a provincial law that abolished school boards unjustifiably infringe the rights guaranteed to Quebec’s minority language groups by the Canadian Charter, a ruling deemed by the English community as a sweeping win.
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April 28, 2025
U of T law professor John Borrows awarded Mundell Medal for excellence in legal writing
The Ontario government has announced that the 2024 David Walter Mundell Medal for excellence in legal writing has been awarded to professor John Borrows.
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April 28, 2025
TRUSTS - Creation - Presumed resulting trusts
Appeal by appellant Diane Wilkinson from chambers judge’s order dismissing her trust claims as statute barred under Limitation Act.
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April 28, 2025
FOR TORTS - Affecting the person - Defamation - Method of publication - Internet
Appeal by Neufeld from an order finding him liable in defamation to Bondar and awarding $45,000 in general and punitive damages on grounds that judge erred in concluding that impugned words were defamatory and erred in awarding more than nominal and punitive damages.
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April 28, 2025
When the system came for me, my co-counsel was AI
In July 2023, I was detained and charged by an officer of the Toronto Police Service during a low-speed parking manoeuvre in downtown Toronto. My dashcam footage contradicted the officer’s claims. Still, I was detained for nearly an hour, falsely accused of impaired driving and issued four additional traffic charges. What followed was a two-year ordeal filled with obstruction, delay and procedural abuse by the Toronto Police Service and the City of Toronto’s legal counsel.
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April 28, 2025
Law firms restricting social media posts: More sinister than just hatred
I recently wrote an article titled "Hate everything or risk the consequences" in which I lamented that law firms restrict the social medial activity of their lawyers. But then I spoke to writer Tony Albrecht, who knows a lot about this stuff, and I now realize I understated the problem.
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April 25, 2025
SCC rules CRTC has no jurisdiction to decide 5G access disputes between telecoms and municipalities
In a decision that addresses the role of so-called “dynamic” statutory interpretation in cases where technology has evolved or other circumstances have changed significantly since a law was enacted, the Supreme Court of Canada has affirmed 7-2 that the CRTC does not have jurisdiction to adjudicate disputes between telecom carriers and public authorities that have refused to allow the telcos to deploy 5G small cell antennas on public property.
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April 25, 2025
B.C. Court of Appeal upholds $15,000 damages for privacy breach, without proof of further harm
The B.C. Court of Appeal has upheld $15,000 in non-pecuniary damages for each person whose privacy was breached when a rogue ICBC employee accessed the private data of 78 policyholders and sold some of it to criminals, leading to arson and shooting attacks against 13 people.
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April 25, 2025
Ontario court orders KPMG to accept $2.9-million intercompany debt claim in bankruptcy dispute
In a dispute between bankruptcy trustees involving a now-defunct Toronto-area grocery chain and its insolvent parent company, the Ontario Superior Court has ordered KPMG to accept a $2.9-million intercompany debt claim that it originally disallowed, ruling that it committed a “palpable and overriding error.”
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April 25, 2025
Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick sign MOU on trade, labour mobility to battle U.S. tariffs
Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick have signed a memorandum of understanding outlining free trade and labour mobility to boost the domestic economy and combat tariffs from the United States.