Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution Blog

Bell Mobility’s slogan may ring hollow for some Canadians in light of the Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision in Sankar v. Bell Mobility Inc., 2016 ONCA 242, which will likely end the $200-million class action involving as many as one million Canadians. In reasons issued April 4, 2016, the Court upheld the decision of the motions judge who, on a summary judgment motion ...

A certificate of pending litigation (a CPL) is a form of charge that can be registered on title to land where someone commences a legal claim in which they assert an interest in that land. CPLs are intended to protect the claimant’s interest in that land. For example, if a plaintiff asserts money they lent was used to purchase or maintain land, they will claim a CPL. Similarly, a ...

An appeal due to come before the Environmental Appeal Board (the “Board”) may address questions about the intersection between the provincial Ministry of Environment (the “Ministry”) and municipalities relating to the standards to be applied to remediation of contaminated land.

In October 2016, the City of Burnaby is appealing the Ministry’s decision to ...

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 ...

A recent case from the Ontario Court of Appeal suggests franchisors may lose the protection of a restrictive covenant in a franchise agreement if, at the time the franchisor wants to enforce the covenant, it can’t establish a “legitimate or proprietary interest to protect” within the territorial scope of the covenant.

In MEDIchair LP v. DME Medequip Inc., 2016 ONCA ...

On February 18, 2016, the Supreme Court of Canada granted Google leave to appeal the decision of the British Columbia Court of Appeal in the case of Google Inc. v. Equustek Solutions Inc., 2015 BCCA 265, a case previously discussed on this blog in October 2014 while it was before the Court of Appeal.  The appeal will have important ramifications for companies seeking to protect ...

In a recent B.C. Court of Appeal decision, the court was asked to revisit the age old question of whether vendors of real property in British Columbia can still rely on the doctrine of caveat emptor or 'buyer beware' to avoid certain types of claims made by disgruntled purchasers.  In short, the court ultimately recognized the continuing application of the doctrine with only ...

On December 4, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada (the “SCC”) issued its decision in Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce v. Green, 2015 SCC 60. In the highly anticipated decision, a deeply divided Court rendered their reasons for a trilogy of appeals that arose from securities class action cases against CIBC, IMAX Corporation, and Celestica Inc. In each case the plaintiff ...

On November 5, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada (the “SCC”) granted leave to appeal in two related cases: Endean v. British Columbia, 2014 BCCA 61, and Parsons v. Ontario, 2015 ONCA 158. The resolution of these two cases will shape the scope of inter-jurisdictional coordination for national class actions in Canada by determining whether or not provincial judges may sit ...

On Tuesday October 20, 2015, Bill 38, the Franchises Act, successfully passed third reading. The Government of British Columbia first introduced the bill on October 6, 2015, and it is now in its final stage of enactment. The Franchises Act will come into force upon Royal Assent which is expected to be granted towards the end of 2016 or early in 2017.

Once in force, the ...