Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution Blog

Agreements to purchase real estate are generally negotiated between real estate agents without the benefit of legal advice.  This can often lead to vagueness when “special” terms are added to the standard form agreements of purchase and sale. A case in point is the recent decision of the British Columbia Court of Appeal in Peier v. Cressey Whistler Townhomes Limited ...

The internet is a wonderful thing.  It provides instant access to a universe of information on nearly endless subjects.  It is a worldwide forum for the exchange of content and ideas.  Anyone with access to a computer can opine on anything or anybody.  Frequently, commentators stray across the line and post defamatory content, often because they think their conduct anonymous.  ...

As any strata owner knows, an obstreperous unit owner can make everyone else’s life hell.  Keith Fraser, in a recent article in The Province reported on a B.C. Supreme Court ruling ordering problem strata owners to sell their unit as a result of their outrageous conduct.  The decision is interesting for two reasons.  First, it encourages strata councils to seek redress from ...

On December 22, 2011, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in Reference Re: Securities Act, 2011 SCC 66.  As noted in a previous post, the Reference involved a show down between the federal government and various provincial governments over the question of whether the legislation creating a proposed new national securities regulator is constitutionally ...

B.C.’s Civil Forfeiture Office, still a relatively new entity, is becoming more aggressive in its approach to seeking forfeiture of what it sees as illicitly acquired assets or property that is being used for an unlawful purpose.  In September 2011, the Director of Civil Forfeiture seized five “high-end sports cars” for allegedly street racing.  In October 2011, the ...

One of the most common forms of estate planning, particularly among couples, is not to have any plan at all.  That is often a very bad idea for a wide variety of reasons.  However, there are circumstances where it is a good idea and can avoid many estate problems.  This can be done by owning all assets in joint tenancy with your spouse.  Generally, when one of the joint tenants dies, the ...

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 ...

On November 23, 2011, Chief Justice Robert Bauman of the British Columbia Supreme Court issued his much anticipated Reasons for Judgment in Reference re Section 293 of the Criminal Code of Canada, 2011 BCSC 1588, the constitutional reference concerning the validity of Canada’s anti-polygamy law.  Chief Justice Bauman found that the law is consistent with the Canadian ...

This post was submitted by Lawson Lundell guest author Euan Sinclair, Director, Knowledge Management.

The titanic legal battle over the soul of Alberta’s Personal Information Protection Act took a new twist recently, when the Supreme Court of Canada refused the Alberta Information and Privacy Commissioner’s application for leave to appeal the Alberta Court of ...

In the undocumented world of family relations and finances, money is often provided by one person to another without the exact nature of the transaction being discussed, understood or documented.  Mum provides $20,000 to child to be used towards the purchaser of a house or to fund a year at school.  Granddad pays $15,000 towards a grandchild’s purchase of a business.  Is this ...