Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution Blog

On October 2, 2012, I blogged about court intervention in shareholder proxy contests in British Columbia.  One of the cases referenced was a petition brought by TELUS to quash a meeting of TELUS’s shareholders requisitioned by an American hedge fund, Mason Capital Management LLC (“Mason Capital”).  This meeting was requisitioned in an attempt to block a merger of ...

2012 has seen a large increase in court applications relating to shareholder proxy contests in British Columbia.  In the face of these increased number of applications, the Supreme Court of British Columbia has shown an increased willingness to intervene to ensure meetings and proxy contests are conducted fairly.

On September 20, 2012, the Court gave oral reasons in ...

Based on a recent B.C. Court of Appeal decision, Greater Vancouver Water District v. North American Pipe & Steel Ltd., the answer is yes. This case serves as a clear direction to the construction community that the courts will hold contractors to the specifications and warranties they give about the services and products they intend to supply to purchasers. This is good news ...

In a decision that will be of interest to developers and others whose interests may be affected by zoning decisions of local governments, the B.C. Court of Appeal recently reaffirmed the duty of fairness owed to interested parties when such decisions are made.  The Court also provided some guidance as to what is required of local governments in order to meet that duty.

At issue ...

In recent years it has become increasingly common for commercial contracts to include arbitration clauses requiring disputes that arise under the contract to be resolved through arbitration rather than by recourse to the court process.  Such clauses are also very prevalent in partnership agreements as they allow partners to resolve disputes in a relatively quick and ...

On September 7, 2012, the British Columbia Court of Appeal, sitting as the Yukon Court of Appeal, heard the appeal from the Yukon Supreme Court decision in Matre et al v. Crew Gold Corporation, 2011 YKSC 75.  The Court of Appeal’s eventual decision will address the question of whether beneficial, as opposed to registered, shareholders can exercise dissent rights under ...

In a recent case, Club Resorts Ltd. v. Van Breda, the Supreme Court of Canada elaborated on the “real and substantial connection” test, bringing greater clarity and predictability to the determination of whether a court is entitled to assume jurisdiction over a case which also has ties to a foreign jurisdiction.  In doing so, the Supreme Court of Canada has greatly ...

Retirement benefits have been much in the news recently with the announcement by the federal government that the eligibility age for public Old Age Security benefits will rise from 65-67 beginning in 2023.  Concerns about the affordability of retiree benefits is particularly acute in the private sector where factors such as the aging population, economic uncertainty ...

The B.C. Court of Appeal recently upheld, and arguably extended, the enforceability of liability waivers and releases signed by customers of commercial enterprises.  The decision, Loychuk v. Cougar Mountain Adventures Ltd., is a strong affirmation that participants in inherently risky recreational adventures who sign releases will not be able to sue if they are ...

On December 22, 2011, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in Reference Re: Securities Act, 2011 SCC 66.  As noted in a previous post, the Reference involved a show down between the federal government and various provincial governments over the question of whether the legislation creating a proposed new national securities regulator is constitutionally ...