Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution Blog

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 ...

On September 27, 2016, I blogged about the decision of the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench blocking approval of an arrangement in Re Marquee Energy Ltd,. and the Alberta Oilsands Inc. In that decision, the Court held that Alberta Oilsands shareholders must be allowed a shareholders vote even though the only company being “arranged” was Marquee Energy Ltd. The appeal of ...

On November 13, 2015, I blogged about the Supreme Court of Canada granting leave to appeal in two related cases: Endean v. British Columbia, 2014 BCCA 61 and Parsons v. Ontario, 2015 ONCA 158.  These cases raised the issue of the scope of inter-jurisdictional coordination for national class actions in Canada by determining whether or not judges of provincial superior courts ...

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 ...

The B.C. Ministry of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction announced today that the new Franchises Act and the Franchises Regulation will come into effect on February 1, 2017. The Franchises Act is intended to “provide important legal protections for British Columbia-based franchisees who operate a franchise”. The Act largely mirrors legislation already in force in ...

It’s common practice in Canada to enter into a franchise agreement before determining the location of the franchise – the franchisor and franchisee typically agree that the franchisor will use “best efforts” to find a suitable location for the business, often with the franchisee’s input and participation. Once the location is determined, it is common for the ...