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 ...

In June 2012, my colleague, Craig Ferris wrote about the B.C. Court of Appeal decision in 229 Burrard Residential Limited Partnership v. Essolat where the Court endorsed a strict application of the terms of the B.C. Real Estate Development Marketing Act (“REDMA”).  There, the Court set aside a pre-construction sales contract and ordered the return of the purchase ...

Headlines in Canada have been dominated recently by allegations published by the Georgia Straight newspaper in Vancouver against John Furlong, the former CEO of the Vancouver Olympics.

The allegations are serious. They claim Furlong physically abused First Nation students when he was a teacher in Burns Lake, B.C. in 1969. In response, Furlong issued a statement denying ...

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 ...

On September 21, 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered its decision in Canada (Attorney General) v. Downtown Eastside Sex Workers United Against Violence Society, 2012 SCC 45 in which it found that the Respondent society (the “Society”) and one individual have standing to pursue a constitutional challenge to the Criminal Code provisions dealing with ...

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 ...

While the opportunity arises fairly regularly, it is not often that I take a moment to appreciate the publicly recognized merits of one of my colleagues.  I count myself among the lucky in finding the practice of law interesting and enjoyable though often challenging.  One of the reasons I am lucky is the people at my firm, lawyers and staff alike.  They are consistently a pleasure ...