Civil Litigation

  • 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.

  • October 30, 2026

    SCC elaborates on mens rea in dangerous driving cases that involve momentary driver inattention

    The Supreme Court of Canada has specified that a driver’s brief period of inattention is one factor to consider, among others, when analyzing the mens rea in dangerous driving cases. The top court also reiterated its holding in previous decisions that, in some circumstances, a driver’s momentary lapse of attention can, on its own, constitute a marked departure from the standard of care.

  • October 30, 2026

    Justice minister announces 2 judicial appointments in Ontario

    Federal Justice Minister Sean Fraser has announced the appointment of Tina H. Lie and Rahat Godil to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. Lie will serve in Toronto, while Godil will serve in Newmarket.

  • October 30, 2026

    Ontario law society rejects task force to look into TMU antisemitism claims

    Law Society of Ontario (LSO) benchers voted down a resolution at its most recent convocation to investigate allegations of antisemitism at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU).

  • October 30, 2026

    Building a remission request the CRA must engage with

    Part one of this series established that third-party-created tax debt is recovered administratively, by set-off and without any proceeding. Part two established that the relief provisions practitioners reach for first cannot cancel the principal of it. This closing part addresses what remains.

  • October 30, 2026

    Canadian payroll is not enough: Proving an overseas assignment under PR residency rules

    A Canadian pay statement can be genuine and still prove the wrong point in a permanent resident (PR) residency case. The legal question is not simply who paid the worker abroad, but whether a qualifying Canadian business actually assigned that person to full-time work outside Canada on terms that meet the residency rules. Where the foreign role has no defined end or realistic Canadian position to return to, an employer’s letter may not resolve the problem.

  • October 30, 2026

    Alberta referendum results a ‘colossal failure’ for premier, lawyer says

    The polls have closed and the smoke has cleared from Alberta’s constitutional referendum that could have given the go-ahead to a separation vote, with provincial voters rejecting independence but backing a number of proposals on immigration issues that observers say could lead to legal and political difficulties down the road.

  • October 30, 2026

    The art of proving less at trial

    Family law trials often involve proving matters that are not seriously in dispute. Financial statements, bank records and property transactions are introduced into evidence, sometimes at considerable expense, when the underlying facts could have been agreed upon beforehand.

  • October 30, 2026

    Is independent asset verification becoming part of an estate trustee’s duty of inquiry?

    For generations, an estate trustee stepping into an administration has started with the paperwork in front of them: the will, the bank statements that happened to be lying around, the prior trustee’s inventory (if applicable). That starting point is not going away. But as estate trustees — and particularly neutral and succeeding trustees who inherit an administration someone else began — come under closer scrutiny, a question is emerging: is documented, independent verification of what the estate actually owns and owes becoming an expected part of the duty of inquiry?

  • October 30, 2026

    TRUSTS - Constructive trusts - Discretionary remedy - Arises through operation of law - Creation

    Appeals by nine Settling Parties from the order excluding them from preserved proceeds; appeal by the Pichelli Group from the apportionment among investors who proceeded to trial; and motion by the Settling Party Appellants for leave to appeal costs.

  • October 29, 2026

    Ottawa plans economic, public safety & intelligence reform under new national security strategy

    Canada must “prepare for all contingencies up to and including war and other worst-case scenarios,” Prime Minister Mark Carney announced as he unveiled his government’s plan to roll out a new national security strategy over the coming year to ensure that the country can “control its own destiny and is resilient in the face of daunting challenges.”