Civil Litigation
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December 04, 2025
N.B. releases latest disability action plan
New Brunswick has released its new disability action plan, which makes numerous recommendations around addressing poverty among that population — with an objective to increase access to justice and “legal decision-making supports.”
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December 04, 2025
McLennan Ross to promote 5 lawyers to partner in 2026
Elise Cartier, Michelle Fong, Alex MacDonald, Marco Marrelli and Richard Wong will join McLennan Ross LLP’s partnership in 2026, according to the firm.
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December 04, 2025
Case shows that Ontario public bodies will not be able to insulate themselves from scrutiny: lawyer
Ontario’s top court has ruled in favour of a business consortium in its fight with a utility over the building of an electrical substation, saying a lower court was wrong to determine it lacked jurisdiction to consider a decision made by the provincial energy board.
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December 04, 2025
What to do when counsel is never available for urgent court applications?
One of the recurring frustrations in family law practice is the increasingly common tactic where opposing counsel is mysteriously “unavailable” for any proposed hearing date.
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December 04, 2025
Using s. 35 of the Property Law Act to extinguish, modify easements in B.C.
Easements, being one of the most common non-possessory interests in land, are often essential for the proper use and development of a dominant tenement. However, over time, changes in the character of the land, the surrounding neighbourhood or the purpose of the original grant can render an easement obsolete, impractical or economically detrimental to the burdened land (the servient tenement). In British Columbia, if parties do not agree to privately extinguish an easement, the owner of the servient tenement must apply to the court for relief under s. 35 of the Property Law Act.
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December 04, 2025
Court orders law firm to disclose client’s banking information
Parties may occasionally seek disclosure of information or documents from another party’s lawyer during the course of litigation. In such cases, solicitor-client privilege as well as a general duty of confidentiality must be considered. Lawyers who receive a request for disclosure of privileged information by a non-client will generally require that a court order for disclosure be obtained.
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December 03, 2025
Federal judges ‘reluctantly’ take Carney gov’t to court in dispute over pay, judicial independence
In a pay dispute with Ottawa that raises questions about the requirements for judicial independence, the Canadian Superior Courts Judges Association (CSCJA) and the associate judges of the Federal Court separately filed Federal Court applications seeking judicial review of the Carney government’s recent refusal to implement the recommendations of an independent judicial pay commission, including its advice that a $28,000 salary boost (on top of mandatory annual indexing) is necessary to keep attracting outstanding lawyers to the federal benches.
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December 03, 2025
Valerie Prather joins McCarthy Tétrault in Calgary
McCarthy Tétrault has welcomed Valerie Prather as a partner in its litigation and dispute resolution group in Calgary, according to the firm.
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December 03, 2025
Federal Court of Appeal rejects percentage-based costs in IP appeal
The Federal Court of Appeal has declined to award costs based on a percentage of actual fees in an appeal arising out of a complex intellectual property (IP) dispute, finding that extending the elevated lump-sum trial approach to the appellate proceeding was not justified in the case.
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December 03, 2025
Seeking leave to appeal: Top five considerations
Appeal rights in Ontario are “wholly a matter of statute” and there is no inherent right to appeal a decision (see Sutcliffe v. Ontario (Minister of the Environment), [2004] O.J. No. 277, at para. 23).