Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution Blog

As courts across Canada continue to see a rising trend in self-represented litigants, it becomes increasingly important for them to understand court rules and procedures to ensure access to justice.

In the recent case of Blomer v Workers Compensation Board, the Alberta Court of Appeal considered whether the motions judge could correct the procedural missteps of the ...

What options does one have when they discover that a term in a previously executed contract or written instrument was worded poorly, or incorrectly drafted? Generally, parties in this scenario may seek the remedy of rectification, which gives a court the equitable jurisdiction to rectify or correct the document so that it accords with the parties’ true agreement ...

In its highly anticipated judgment, the majority of the Supreme Court of Canada found the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act constitutional in a split 6-3 decision.

The key issue before the court was whether the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act (“GGPPA”) was constitutional. The majority decided that it was, because Parliament has jurisdiction to enact this law ...

For several decades in Canada, the court has applied the deferential standard of “reasonableness” when reviewing arbitral awards - subject to a narrow set of exceptions.

When applying the reasonableness standard, a reviewing court will show deference to the reasons of the decision-maker and uphold the award so long as the award falls within a “range of reasonable ...

The model Industry Agreements developed by the Canadian oil and gas industry (such as the CAODC-CAPP and PSAC contracts) stipulate that any unpaid contractor invoices shall bear interest at a rate of 18% per annum. This is by no means atypical. In the Canadian oil and gas industry it is very common to find contractual interest rates for late or unpaid invoices ranging from 12 ...

We are now several years into the “culture shift” encouraging summary dispositions rather than trials, following the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Hryniak v Mauldin.^[1] Commentary from the Alberta Court of Appeal suggests that this shift has indeed resulted in an increase in the number of cases that have been decided under the summary judgment rules in ...

On February 1, 2021, amendments to B.C.’s Environmental Management Act will come into effect that will introduce new reporting requirements in relation to lands that have been used for specified commercial or industrial uses (the Stage 13 Amendments). Owners or operators of those lands who seek protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) or the ...

This post discusses the Alberta Court of Appeal's recent decision in Hannam v. Medicine Hat School District No. 76,^[1] which stands as an emphatic reminder that the Supreme Court of Canada has directed courts to grant summary judgment when a fair and just determination can be made without a trial.

Although Hannam does not change the law of summary judgment, it conveys the ...

In King Day Holdings Ltd. v. The Owners, Strata Plan LMS3851^[1], the general rule that strata owners are “all in it together” gave way to fairness considerations and King Day Holdings Ltd. (“King Day”) reigned supreme in its claim that the strata council’s allocation of strata fees based on unit entitlement was significantly unfair.

Strata Plan LMS3851 consists ...

Can commercial tenants suffering the effects of the pandemic on their business unilaterally stop paying rent?

In a recently reported decision of the B.C. Supreme Court, Hudson’s Bay Company ULC v. Pensionfund Investment Ltd., 2020 BCSC 1959, the court attempted to balance the competing and urgent interests of commercial landlords and tenants during the current ...