PUBLICATIONS

The court found that the plaintiff was wrongfully dismissed from her employment because a provision contained in her employment agreement...

OVERVIEW: This action concerned a snowmobile accident that took place in 2014. The plaintiff served several expert opinion reports regarding the nature and extent of his injuries. The defendant did not serve any responding expert opinion reports. The matter was set down for trial twice, in 2019 and in September 2023.

In February 2023, the defendant requested the plaintiff's consent to extend the deadline for delivery of a defence medical examination...

There has been a shift in attitudes towards juries in medical malpractice cases over time. In 1998, the America Medical Association, a professional association and lobbying group for physicians and medical students, explained their position as follows...

A non-competition clause is a type of restrictive covenant. It typically purports to preclude an employee from engaging in work that competes with its former employer's business for a period of time after the employment relationship ends.

Recently in Reotech Construction Ltd. v. Snider, 2022 BCSC 317 the BC Supreme Court determined that CERB payments should be deducted from an ex-employee's damage award for wrongful dismissal.

On appeal to the British Columbia Supreme Court, the court relied on two judicial precedents to determine the trial judge had erred...

Many employers are beginning to implement mandatory vaccination policies in their workplaces. In doing so, they must balance the risks to their businesses and employees of a workplace outbreak of COVID-19 versus employees' human and contractual rights, along with privacy concerns.

Many Canadians felt panic over the last month as the expiry date for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (“CERB”) loomed. As of October 3, 2020, Canadian workers who were relying on the CERB for financial support saw this benefit come to an end.

However, in response to this looming expiry date, the House of Commons sprung in to action on September 29, 2020 to unanimously pass Bill C-4: An Act relating to certain measures in response to COVID-19.

Bill C-4 was also quickly passed by the Senate, and it received Royal Assent on October 2, 2020.

When it comes to claims for wrongful dismissal, without cause termination provisions have received almost all of the attention in recent years.

However, in the wake of a recent landmark decision by the Court of Appeal for Ontario (“ONCA”), employers should now be turning their attention to the other portions of the termination provisions in their non-unionized employees’ contracts.

Subrogation is the process whereby an insurer, after indemnifying its insured, assumes its insured's right to recover damages as against a tortfeaser who is liable for causing the damages. Since the insurer's right to subrogate is derivative, the insurer is subject to the same limitations that the insured would be when seeking recovery from third parties.

Amid provincial, federal, and municipal conversations about relaxing COVID-19 restrictions and reopening segments of the economy, businesses have recently been told to start planning and implementing back-to-work procedures and protocols. If you are an employer and are wondering where to start, some important questions for businesses to consider are...

Over the last few weeks, the eligibility criteria to qualify for CERB have been criticized for excluding many Canadians....In response to this criticism, Prime Minister Trudeau announced during his public address on April 15, 2020, that new criteria would be enacted.

In response to COVID-19, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (SCJ) has made necessary changes to procedural deadlines and steps over the last few weeks. Amidst these changes, the Court has recently announced that certain proceedings can now take place electronically.

After announcing the 75 per cent Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy on March 27, 2020, the Government of Canada announced new eligibility criteria for the Subsidy just days later. Specifically, on March 30, 2020, the Government set out that the Subsidy will be immediately available to non-profits, charities, and businesses of all sizes that have seen a reduction in revenue by at least 30 per cent as a result of COVID-19. Public sector entities are ineligible at this time.

Canadian businesses of all sizes face financial hardship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. To support and provide flexibility to these businesses while also sustaining liquidity in key financial markets, the Government of Canada has developed an Economic Response Plan. These measures, set out in the COVID-19 Emergency Response Act, passed into law on March 25, 2020.

In its seminal decision of Westerhof v Gee Estate,1 the Court of Appeal for Ontario provided the general framework for the admissibility of expert evidence in Ontario. Specifically, it clarified the role of participant experts at trial and confirmed that compliance with Rule 53.03 of the Rules of Civil Procedure was not required for their evidence to be admissible, as opposed to the evidence of litigation experts. As the Court indicated, participant experts are witnesses, albeit ones with special skill, knowledge, training or expertise, who are not engaged by a party to form their opinions, and who do not form their opinions for the purpose of the litigation.

Employment practices liability (EPL) coverage protect employers from a variety of actions brought by employees, including wrongful dismissal, sexual harassment, accommodation, discrimination, negligence, unjust enrichment, breach of contract, and breach of duty of good faith actions. This paper will examine cases that demonstrate the potential consequences of failing to have an EPL policy in place.

Some employers do not see the value in executing employment contracts. However, without termination clauses which limit an employee's entitlements upon termination without cause, damages awarded can be significant. Long gone is the traditional common law "rule of thumb" of one month's notice per year of service. The notice period can be dramatically extended by the court when weighing various factors.

Given that employers have an implied contractual right to dismiss a probationary employee without notice and without giving reasons, many employers believe that they are immune from claims brought against them after terminating an employee within his or her probationary period. Unfortunately for employers, this is not the case. Despite the existence of probationary periods, there are many limitations facing employers who wish to fire their probationary employees. It is crucial that employers understand these limitations in order to prevent claims from being brought against them.

Landlords have long since struggled with the issue of "problem pets" in their residential units. Cleanliness, property damage and liability for injuries caused by tenants' pets are all common concerns. What does provincial legislation say about pets in residential complexes and what options are available to landlords?

Once a settlement amount is agreed upon, there is often much additional work to be completed prior to closing a file. Structuring a settlement, while typically largely the responsibility of the plaintiff or prospective plaintiff, can often cause significant delay in the final resolution of a file.

In order to maximize the amount received through settlement, plaintiffs who are recipients of benefits through the Ontario Disability Support Program (“ODSP”) will often try to create what is known as a Henson trust, in order to try to avoid negatively affecting their eligibility for benefits. This paper explains the origins and applicability of Henson trusts in personal injury settlements.

There have been a number of interesting tort decisions over the last twelve months, some providing much needed clarification to the existing common law and some creating brand new law. As has been a trend in the past few years, damage awards have also seen an increase, primarily as a result of rising future care costs damages.

This paper examines five interesting tort decisions that were released over the course of the past year and have received substantial attention. It also examines the state of increasing future care costs awards and provides some helpful case law to consider when facing a significant future care costs claim.

On June 30, 2008, the Human Rights Code Amendment Act, 2006 came into full force in the Province of Ontario. The amended Human Rights Code (the “Code”) sought to address numerous shortcomings of the prior human rights enforcement system.

Over the course of the last five years, there have been some successes, particularly with respect to efficiency. For cases that proceed to a full hearing on the merits, it now takes, on average, 16.5 months from the initial application filing date to get to the first hearing date. Prior to the amendments, it took, on average 47.6 months to get to a Tribunal hearing. Also, in 2011-2012, for the first time, the Tribunal was able to close more cases than it opened. This trend has continued in early 2012-2013.

While the new Code strived to create a more efficient and effective forum in which to deal with discrimination complaints, it has created new challenges for respondents, the vast majority of which are employers, including the following...

In the context of sports camps, the risk for insureds lies in claims made against them in negligence. Specifically, insureds are at risk of patrons at a day camp making allegations that they failed to fulfill the duty of care owed to them to keep them safe while engaging in a potentially dangerous activity offering horseback riding.