Civil Litigation

  • July 31, 2026

    How ‘Spygate’ ended Southampton FC’s premier league promotion bid

    Two days before Southampton FC was scheduled to play Middlesbrough FC in the recent two-leg English Football League (EFL) championship playoff semifinal, with a promotion-deciding final against Hull City FC set to follow, allegations emerged that a Southampton staff member had been observing and recording Middlesbrough’s training session.

  • July 30, 2026

    Privative clause struck down; judicial review for ‘legality’ is constitutionally guaranteed: SCC

    In an administrative law landmark that addresses the scope of the Constitution’s guarantee of judicial review, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled 9-0 that legislatures cannot validly use privative clauses to bar “legality review” by courts — i.e., the availability of curial review is constitutionally guaranteed for all aspects of delegated administrative decisions, including on questions of law, fact or mixed law and fact.

  • July 30, 2026

    JUDICIAL REVIEW AND STATUTORY APPEAL - Scope of review - Jurisdiction of the court to review

    Appeal by Democracy Watch from a decision of Federal Court of Appeal dismissing its application for judicial review. The Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner (the Commissioner) released a report concluding that then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had not contravened the Conflict of Interest Act (the COIA) when he participated in two funding decisions relating to the WE Charity.

  • July 30, 2026

    Gig workers: How to use voluntary disclosure for unreported income to avoid 50% penalties

    This is part of a three-part Law360 Canada series on taxation of the platform economy. Part one covered Canada’s platform-reporting regime under Part XX of the Income Tax Act. Part two covered income characterization and GST/HST compliance for platform earners.

  • July 30, 2026

    What do we owe the perpetrator in the wake of Ahluwalia?

    In the two months since the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in Ahluwalia v. Ahluwalia, 2026 SCC 16, recognizing a new tort of intimate partner violence (IPV) rooted in coercive control, the family law community has produced a wave of discussion, published commentary and CPDs. Nearly all of it, understandably, centres on the survivor.

  • July 30, 2026

    Gifts, loans and ‘mom promised me the house’

    In 2009, a mother transfers $150,000 to her eldest son so he can close on his first house. Nothing is signed. She mentions to a neighbour that he will pay her back “when he is on his feet.” She tells the son it is “his share, early.” Meanwhile, her daughter gives up an apartment and a job in another city, moves into the family home and spends 11 years caring for her mother, on the strength of an assurance repeated over many Sunday dinners: the house will be yours. The mother dies in 2024. Her will divides the estate equally among her three children.

  • July 30, 2026

    CIVIL PROCEDURE - Disposition without trial - Dismissal of action - Delay or failure to prosecute

    Appeal by appellants from a decision declining to dismiss a claim by Forgotten Treasures International Inc. (respondent) for want of prosecution. The underlying action arose from the denial of an insurance claim for allegedly stolen sculptures and included claims in contract and tort against insurers and brokers.

  • July 29, 2026

    N.B. court uses lawyer’s fraud case to examine rules for granting summary judgment

    New Brunswick’s Appeal Court has quashed a judge’s decision granting summary judgment to a bank being sued by a veteran lawyer who lost $100,000 after being taken in by fraudsters.

  • July 29, 2026

    Court sends $5M mining tax incentive renunciation back to CRA

    The Federal Court has allowed a judicial review after finding that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) failed to properly explain why a lithium mining company could not make a second, late renunciation of exploration expenses to subscribers of its flow-through shares.

  • July 29, 2026

    Must a CCPC be a ‘Canadian corporation’?

    Under s. 123.3 of the Income Tax Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. 1 (5th Supp.) (ITA), certain investment income earned within a Canadian-controlled private corporation (CCPC) is subject to a refundable tax.