Civil Litigation
-
June 20, 2025
Building Products of Canada faces national class action over allegedly defective shingles
Quebec-based company Building Products of Canada (BP Canada) is facing a proposed national class action over alleged defects in its Mystique brand of roofing shingles, which have led to water infiltration and damage to homes according to a statement of claim filed with the Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court.
-
June 20, 2025
OBA awards gala celebrates service to the legal profession and community at large
Toronto lawyer Angela Ogang had a good excuse not to attend the Ontario Bar Association’s annual awards gala June 19: She’d given birth to her baby the night before.
-
June 20, 2025
Federal Court of Appeal overturns denial of psilocybin exemptions for health care practitioners
The Federal Court of Appeal has set aside federal decisions denying certain health care practitioners exemptions from criminal prosecution for possessing and using psilocybin mushrooms as part of experiential training for psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy (PSAP).
-
June 20, 2025
Facebook’s application to hear strike appeal before certification hearing dismissed
In a proposed class action against respondents Facebook and Instagram relating to minors, the British Columbia Court of Appeal has denied the platforms’ application seeking that an appeal of an order striking evidence against them should be heard before the certification hearing.
-
June 20, 2025
Estate planning’s silent threat: The unpapered file
On June 5, 2025, I spoke as a panellist at the Ontario Bar Association’s webcast, “From Retainer to Reporting Letter: Avoiding Professional Liability and Negligence Claims in Estates Law.” The program included a case law update, a presentation by LAWPRO on the most common claims against lawyers in the area of wills and estates, and a lively discussion among the panellists about common pitfalls faced by lawyers practising in this area.
-
June 20, 2025
Selling faux antiques to Versailles? A case of caveat emperor
“Things are seldom as they seem. Skim milk masquerades as cream.” — Buttercup, in Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore. Which gets me to Bill Pallot. Vanity Fair called him “the world’s leading expert on the works of 18th-century France.” However, Paris Match recently branded him as “the Bernie Madoff of art.”
-
June 19, 2025
FCA sets aside decision that declared Ottawa must fill judicial vacancies ‘within a reasonable time’
A novel Federal Court action that tried to compel Ottawa to fix its chronic tardiness in filling superior court vacancies has been dismissed for lack of jurisdiction by the Federal Court of Appeal; however, the law firm that launched the case to help its clients and other litigants says its efforts were not in vain.
-
June 19, 2025
Court dismisses appeal of rejected employment class action
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice Divisional Court has dismissed an appeal of a refusal to certify a proposed class action for the proposed class’s misclassification as independent contractors rather than employees in the context of a temporary help agency.
-
June 19, 2025
Three new lawyers join McDougall Gauley
McDougall Gauley LLP has announced that Manahil Arshad, Tanner Secord and Dathan Thomas have joined the firm as associates at its Saskatoon office.
-
June 19, 2025
Costs liability to defendants 10 times that of claim
Civil trials are expensive. The costs of pursuing a claim to the end of trial may well be prohibitive for many plaintiffs and may be disproportionate to the amount actually at issue.