Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution Blog

Section 8 of the Interest Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. I-15, prohibits any "fine, penalty or rate of interest . . . that has the effect of increasing the charge on the arrears beyond the rate of interest payable on principal money not in arrears." Relying on this provision, borrowers often challenge fees and charges that borrowers levy when seeking to enforce a secured debt that has gone ...

Fraudsters are very clever. Many set up elaborate commercial transactions for the purpose of absconding with someone else's money.  By the time the scheme is discovered, an innocent victim is usually out of pocket, often for large sums of money. In an effort to recover that loss, the victim often turns to other innocent parties who were unknowingly involved in the deal and ...

Introduction

In Vancouver Community College v Vancouver Career College (Burnaby) 2017 BCCA 41, the British Columbia Court of Appeal found that Vancouver Community College (“VCC”) had established the tort of passing off against Vancouver Career College (“Career College”) for using “VCC” and “VCCollege” as part of Career College’s internet ...

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 ...

Few property disputes engender more anger and unreasonable behaviour than trespass and nuisance claims between residential neighbours.  Municipal and other authorities, such as regional districts or stratas, are either loath to get involved or simply refuse to exercise their authority, though that would often resolve matters sooner.  As a result, such disputes between ...

In the recent decision in Soprema Inc. v. Wolrige Mahon LLP, 2016 BCCA 471, the British Columbia Court of Appeal confirmed the status of solicitor-client privilege as “nearly absolute” and clarified the test for determining whether a party has impliedly waived of solicitor-client privilege by making its state of mind a material issue in an action.

Soprema commenced an ...

Given that Canada, and BC in particular, has an economy driven largely by international trade, it will come as no surprise that many of those transactions are conducted in currencies other than the Canadian dollar.  What happens when you need to sue in Canada over a contract that deals in, for example, US dollars or Japanese Yen?  How and when do the courts address the conversion ...

On November 25, 2016, the Supreme Court of Canada (the "SCC") released two decisions that examine the protection of privileged communications before administrative bodies. The cases, which involve the Information and Privacy Commission of Alberta and Quebec's Chamber de l'assurance de dommages, consider the ability of legislation to infringe on the established ...

On November 17, 2016, the Supreme Court of Canada (the “SCC”) released its decision in Royal Bank of Canada v. Trang, 2016 SCC 50. This case involved the proper interpretation of certain disclosure exceptions in the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, S.C. 2000, c.5 (“PIPEDA”).

Writing for a unanimous court, Justice Côté overturned ...