Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution Blog

On April 19, 2017, in Humphreys v Trebilcock, 2017 ABCA 116 ("Humphreys"),  the Alberta Court of Appeal set out six "essential" questions that an adjudicator must ask in order to apply Rule 4.31, the "chronic delay" rule. Under the Alberta Rules of Court (the "Rules"), a party may apply to dismiss an action for undue delay pursuant to Rule 4.31 at any time in an action or Rule 4.33 ...

In October 2011 I wrote about the BC Supreme Court decision in Federation of Law Societies of Canada v. Canada (Attorney General), 2011 BCSC 1270 in which the Court held that provisions of the federal Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act and related Regulations were constitutionally inapplicable to lawyers.  Specifically, the Court held that ...

What is an illegal contract and is it enforceable?  If an illegal contract is unenforceable, does the party who received its benefit get to keep that windfall?  The short answer to the first question is that a contract is illegal when it is either contrary to a statute or is contrary to public policy.  Generally, illegal contracts are not enforceable.  The answer to the second ...

You just met a nice foreign gentleman.  He asks you to assist him in facilitating a transfer of funds overseas.  You agree because he offers a 5% commission.  He produces a cheque payable to you, for a large sum, and asks you to deposit it into your bank account.  After retaining your commission, you wire the rest overseas as instructed.  Easy money!  Now, several weeks later, your bank ...

On November 7, 2011, the federal Government issued a consultation paper on proposed amendments to the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing (“PCMLTF”) Act and Regulations which, if enacted, will impose significant new obligations on reporting entities covered by the legislation.

The PCMLTF legislation, as the name suggests, is aimed at ...

The federal government and the legal profession have been at odds for a number of years over the extent to which lawyers can and should be regulated under the federal Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (the “Act”).  The Government has long argued that if lawyers are not subject to the same anti-money laundering measures that apply to other ...

A common fraud perpetrated on financial institutions is the deposit of counterfeit cheques.  The account holder distances themselves from the fraud by portraying the payment as one they thought was part of a legitimate transaction.  The funds are often withdrawn or transferred before the cheque is returned as counterfeit, usually within a matter of days.  After the ...

On July 23^rd, ex-Fifa presidential candidate, Mohammad Bin Hammam (“MBH”) was banned from football related activity for life.  He is the most senior official to be banned by Fifa in its 107 year history.  For the uninitiated, Fifa is the governing global body for the sport of soccer.  A brief factoid:  Fifa has more members (208) than the International Olympic Committee; is ...

There is a card in Monopoly that reads “Bank error in your favour” and which entitles you to keep the $200 wrongly credited to your account.   Banks can make errors.  Banks are also frequently the victims of fraud.  The result of this is often that a lucky customer’s account suddenly has a much larger balance.  However, unlike Monopoly, when this occurs, the bank will do all it ...

In April 2006, B.C.’s Civil Forfeiture Act (“CFA”) came into force.  Seven Canadian provinces now have similar legislation. 

The CFA provides a mechanism for the government, through the Director of the Civil Forfeiture Office, to seek the forfeiture of the “proceeds of unlawful activity”.  Forfeiture is ordered by the Court when it is proven that property is ...