Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution Blog

In a joint statement with Meta, TikTok, Snap and X, on April 23, 2024, the BC government announced that it will put Bill 12 – 2024, Public Heath Accountability and Cost Recovery Act, on hold.  Instead, the government will strike the “BC Online Safety Action Table” in collaboration with Meta, Snap, TikTok and X, to discuss the tangible steps that can be taken to ensure safe, empowering experiences online.  Bill 12 had not been tabled for second reading since its introduction on March 14, 2024.

Canada already has one of the world’s strictest regimes regulating commercial electronic messages, and, just in time for the country’s 150^th birthday, the consequences for breach are about to get much more severe. On July 1, 2017, this regime will add additional teeth in the form of a private right of action, which could drastically increase the threat of legal ...

The recent decision of the British Columbia Court of Appeal in Chriscan Enterprises Ltd. v. St. Pierre, 2016 BCCA 442, reminds those who elect to resolve their business disputes through arbitration that decisions of the arbitrator, even those touching on the fairness of procedures, will generally be final and not subject to review by the courts. As the Court noted, the ...

In its first decision of 2017, the Supreme Court of Canada addressed the likelihood of successful damages claims against quasi-judicial boards pursuant to s. 24 of the Charter. In a 4-4-1 split decision, the Court ultimately dismissed the appeal and struck the appellant’s claim for damages. Given the nature of the split decision, and the fact-specific basis for the ...

On September 9, 2016, the B.C. Supreme Court issued the first decision to consider the court’s new practice directive concerning the often contentious question of whether to permit a trial to be recorded for broadcasting.

In British Columbia, like other provinces in Canada, trials and other court proceedings are not typically recorded for the purpose of media ...

If one sets up an American subsidiary to do business in the United States and a Canadian subsidiary to do business in Canada, then only the latter would find itself sued as a defendant in Canadian courts, right? Perhaps not.

The recent decision of the British Columbia Supreme Court in Canadian Olympic Committee v. VF Outdoor Canada Co., 2016 BCSC 238, shows the risk of liability ...

In a recent decision from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Plentyoffish Media Inc. was fined $48,000 for violating Canada’s anti-spam legislation. This announcement comes only weeks after Compu-Finder was hit with a $1.1 million fine, which was the first fine levied after CASL came into effect in July 2014.

Plenty of Fish, a ...

In a recent precedent-setting case, the Ontario trial court considered the boundaries of what is acceptable speech in the internet blogosphere. The case is one of first impression in Canada. As the court observed: “Political debate in the Internet blogosphere can be, and, often is, rude, aggressive, sarcastic, hyperbolic, insulting, caustic and/or vulgar. It is not ...

In a decision released November 10, 2014, the BC Court of Appeal rejected an attempt to create a novel common law defence in the law of defamation against so-called SLAPP suits. In Northwest Organics, Limited Partnership v. Maguire, 2014 BCCA 454, the court upheld the chambers judge’s decision and declined to radically change the law of defamation by introducing such a ...

A recent decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice shows that the outcome of important questions of statutory or contractual interpretation can sometimes turn on the meaning of the smallest and most ordinary words. As the court noted in the opening words of its judgment in Young Men’s Christian Association of Greater Toronto v. Municipal Property Assessment ...