Civil Litigation

  • November 05, 2026

    When a bot closes the file

    Mirzaei began with a line in a computer log. In March 2026, in a case challenging the Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) refusal to give her a second review, our client received the CRA’s certified record of her file. One entry, dated Nov. 11, 2024, read: “This case has been automatically completed as a no-reply.” It was attributed to “BOT067G” (Applicant’s motion record, written representations, paras. 8, 10).

  • November 05, 2026

    Seven days to speak up: Why insurers should have to tell you about your accident benefits

    Imagine you have just been in a serious car crash. Your car is a write-off, you are in pain, and you have never made an insurance claim before. The next day, you call your insurer to report the damage to your vehicle. You assume that if you are entitled to anything else, your insurer will tell you. Months later, after paying for treatment out of your own pocket, you learn from a paralegal that you were entitled to accident benefits all along.

  • November 05, 2026

    Public on paper, private on title: The curious case of a road that never was

    Can a road be a public highway even if nobody has ever driven on it, the municipality has never maintained it, and a private company is its registered owner? A recent Ontario Court of Appeal decision suggests the answer may be yes.

  • November 05, 2026

    Judicial council considers whether judge’s solicitation of paid sex warrants his removal from bench

    A Canadian Judicial Council hearing panel will determine whether removal from the bench is warranted for a Quebec superior court judge arrested for soliciting paid sex, who attributes his actions to the stress and “moral disengagement” he experienced due to overwork, exhaustion and burnout on the bench.

  • November 05, 2026

    MARITAL OR FAMILY PROPERTY - Third-party claims - Liability for spouse’s debts

    Appeal by appellant from the order granting the respondent summary judgment on her debt claim, and applications by both parties to adduce fresh evidence. During the appellant’s former relationship with the respondent’s son, the couple used advances from the respondent to finance residential property projects.

  • November 04, 2026

    Ottawa proposes new search and ministerial powers, offences & penalties targeting financial crimes

    The federal government has unveiled anti-financial-crimes legislation that would, among other things, make it a criminal offence to operate an unlicensed cryptocurrency automated teller machine (ATM) and enable “law enforcement” to search and seize mail.

  • November 04, 2026

    Federal Court upholds $250K in penalties against cannabis promotion company

    The Federal Court has upheld penalties totalling $250,000 imposed on a cannabis marketing company for unlawful cannabis promotion and event sponsorship, rejecting arguments that Health Canada failed to adequately consider the Charter value of freedom of expression.

  • November 04, 2026

    When the client is still on the phone with the CRA

    On the afternoon of Aug. 7, 2026, our client in Watton v. Canada (Attorney General) (Federal Court file 26-T-352, Oct. 6, 2026) called the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) four times. The calls lasted seven, eight, 16 and 48 minutes. In the last one, an agent told her something no one at the CRA had told her before: she should have gone to the Federal Court within 30 days.

  • November 04, 2026

    Ontario case shows changes to provincial libel law long overdue, lawyer says

    A press secretary for former Toronto mayor Rob Ford has been dealt a victory in his legal fight with a media outlet he claims defamed him, with Ontario’s top court saying a judge had been wrong in her interpretation of provincial libel law.

  • November 04, 2026

    Young lawyers and the residential real estate myth: It’s not a stepping stone

    In part one of this three-part series, I wrote about young lawyers who think it makes sense to do residential real estate to generate cash flow when they launch a new legal practice, with a view to ultimately developing a practice in a different area of law.

  • November 03, 2026

    B.C. tribunal rejects X’s $119K costs claim against woman seeking intimate-image deletion

    The B.C. Civil Resolution Tribunal (CRT) has rejected social media platform X’s bid to recover about $119,000 in costs from a woman whose intimate image remains accessible to X users outside Canada after X chose to geofence it rather than delete it as ordered.

  • November 03, 2026

    Gabrielle Baracat returns to McCarthy Tétrault in Montreal

    Gabrielle Baracat has returned to McCarthy Tétrault as CMPA (Canadian Medical Protective Association) counsel in its litigation and dispute resolution group in Montreal.

  • November 03, 2026

    Bill C-31’s expansion of CRA’s audit powers: The notice of non-compliance and the compliance-order penalty

    Part one of this series set out the current baseline of the Canada Revenue Agency’s information-gathering powers under ss. 231.1 and 231.2 of the Income Tax Act, and the two judicial limits that frame them: Canada (National Revenue) v. Cameco Corporation, 2019 FCA 67 on oral questioning, and Canada (Attorney General) v. Chambre des notaires du Québec, 2016 SCC 20 on solicitor-client privilege.

  • November 03, 2026

    Saskatchewan proposes laws to better protect police, others from ‘bodily substances’

    Saskatchewan has tabled legislation to strengthen safety measures for police and other first responders exposed to someone’s “bodily substances.” On Oct. 29, the province announced proposed amendments to its Mandatory Testing and Disclosure (Bodily Substances) Act, which would “provide quicker access to testing orders and results, and promote compliance with testing orders” brought against the “source” of the bodily substance.

  • November 03, 2026

    Legislators have an obligation to intervene in segregation practices at Waypoint

    The revelations in Toronto Star courts and justice reporter Jacques Gallant’s investigation into prolonged psychiatric seclusion at Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care in Penetanguishene raise questions Ontario legislators can no longer afford to ignore.

  • November 03, 2026

    Norwich, Anton Piller and Mareva orders: Relief for extraordinary circumstances

    In estate litigation, clients often come with a sense of urgency seeking to collect relevant information, documentation and assets. They might need to see a copy of a will that is being withheld unjustifiably. They may suspect that a once joint investment account is being drained by a nefarious sibling. Ultimately, they want to know about and have access to absolutely everything to understand the scale of the estate and to ensure that it does not slip away. There are court orders that can assist with that.

  • November 03, 2026

    Privacy commissioner recommends amendments to Lawful Access Act

    On Nov. 2, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada told the Standing Senate Committee on National Security, Defence and Veterans Affairs that targeted amendments to Bill C-22, the Lawful Access Act, 2026, would help balance law enforcement and national security needs with Canadians’ fundamental right to privacy.

  • November 03, 2026

    Cyber breaches at major law firms could expose clients to liability, lawyer warns

    Cyber breaches at major Canadian law firms including McCarthy Tétrault, Davies, Bennett Jones and BLG could have legal consequences for their clients, a cybersecurity lawyer says, including potential liability if personal information held by the firms was compromised.

  • November 03, 2026

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

    Appeal by Appellants from order dismissing their application to dismiss Respondent’s action for want of prosecution. The respondent’s 2019 action over a family property development alleged agreements, corporate misconduct, fraudulent conveyances, conspiracy and false imprisonment, were all substantially denied.

  • November 02, 2026

    Saskatchewan lawyers talk benefits of limited licence practitioners

    Limited licence legal practitioners can “lighten the load” for lawyers — and in doing so allow for more people to access assistance, participants heard during a recent Law Society of Saskatchewan (LSS) webinar.

  • November 02, 2026

    Dan A.T. Moseley joins RBS as litigation partner in Surrey

    Dan A.T. Moseley has joined Richards Buell Sutton LLP (RBS) as a partner in its litigation and dispute resolution group in Surrey, B.C.

  • November 02, 2026

    The CRA’s tax audit powers and their judicial limits: Sections 231.1 and 231.2

    The Canada Revenue Agency’s ability to gather information during a tax audit rests on two deceptively short provisions of the Income Tax Act: s. 231.1, the general power to inspect, audit or examine, and s. 231.2, the power to issue a requirement for information or documents.

  • November 02, 2026

    The statutory escape hatch: Why CIBC lost where Van Dolder won

    Just when employers thought they could put the antacids back in the medicine cabinet, the Ontario Court of Appeal has delivered another reminder that the wording of an employment contract matters. And, as the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) has now discovered, a promise to comply with the law is not necessarily enough to save a termination provision that says something quite different.

  • November 02, 2026

    Ask promptly or not at all: Court declines to compel explanation under s. 40(2) of Arbitration Act

    In AtkinsRéalis Construction (Pacific) Inc. v. Barton Malow Canada Ltd., the Ontario Superior Court of Justice dismissed a motion seeking an order directing the arbitrator to provide an explanation of certain aspects of his merits award.

  • October 30, 2026

    N.B. Appeal Court allows correction of class action residency defect

    The New Brunswick Court of Appeal has rejected insurers’ attempt to invalidate a proposed class action because the original plaintiff lived outside the province, finding that the residency defect could be corrected by adding an eligible plaintiff.