Firm Cases

In Matlock v. Ottawa-Carleton Standard Condominium Corporation, McCague Borlack LLP's Martin Smith, on behalf of the Defendants, successfully opposed the Plaintiff's motion to amend his Statement of Claim to enhance his claim against the individual board member Defendants and add an additional board member as a party. In response, the Defendants also advanced a crossclaim striking the claims against the board member Defendants in their entirety.

In Mendes v Blaisdale Montessori School, the defendant, represented by Martin Smith, the managing partner of McCague Borlack's Ottawa office, successfully brought a summary judgment motion against the plaintiff, dismissing the claim in its entirety. The case was further dismissed on appeal.

This case concerns a four-year-old preschooler that was expelled from Blaisdale Montessori School for repeated misbehaviour. The mother of the child sued the school for breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty.

In this case, the plaintiff sued the defendants for a slip and fall that purportedly occurred on a walkway owned by Minto on November 22, 2010. The plaintiff, Ms. Gustanar, alleged that when she left her apartment, she slipped on the ice and/or snow that accumulated on the parking lot. She claimed significant injuries as a result.

Prior to the slip and fall, Minto and Franick entered into a two-year snow removal contract, where Franick was required to provide snow removal services at the Minto owned property known as Elm Ridge Gardens. The contract included a defence and indemnity clause which provided that Franick “shall indemnify and save harmless Minto” all acts or omissions by the contractor.

Accordingly, Martin brought a motion on behalf of Minto to enforce the above-noted clause in order to require Franick to provide a full defence and indemnification to Minto.

This case demonstrates an emerging trend of terminated employees to frame their wrongful dismissal suits similar to a personal injury case. This trial included a cornucopia of expert witnesses brought by the plaintiff – notably extending the length of the trial from three to six weeks – in an attempt to prove lasting psychological damage for the plaintiff as a result of the termination.

The lawyers at McCague Borlack LLP successfully argued that the test for the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress had not been met by the plaintiff and that the plaintiff's claims were unsubstantiated. Particularly, it was held by the court that the employees involved did not intend to inflict emotional distress on Ms. Doyle. This successful argument, in addition to others given throughout trial, reduced a multi-million dollar claim to a fraction of the original pleaded amount.

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice recently released the trial decision where Martin Smith successfully defended a chiropractic malpractice case where the plaintiff,  (Patient), sued the defendant chiropractor for negligence and battery for alleged improper chiropractic treatments.