Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution Blog

Two years ago, Grant Vogeli and I wrote a blog post discussing various approaches to calculating court costs in Alberta. In that post, we lamented that the Tariff of Recoverable Fees in Division 2 of Schedule C—the cost tariff which guides judges’ decisions on costs—had not been updated for over 20 years, leading increasingly to court cost awards that were only ...

The SCC updates the law on qualified privilege and malice, holding lawyers to higher standards when making alleged defamatory statements.

In its first of two companion decisions on anti-SLAPP suit motions, the Supreme Court of Canada in Pointes Protection confirmed the test to be applied (as set out in our first blog here).

In Bent v Platnick, 2020 SCC 23 the SCC applied that ...

For most people, the concept of insider trading likely conjures up thoughts of public companies and famous U.S. cases. For instance, Jeff Skilling, the CEO of Enron, being sentenced to 24 years in prison and fined $45 million for insider trading and other crimes relating to the Enron fraud. Or Martha Stewart getting tipped off by her broker and selling $230,000 of stock in ...

As courts cautiously resume in-person hearings across the country, there is looming uncertainty about when—or if—civil jury trials will ever resume. For instance, B.C. and some regions in Ontario have announced that civil jury trials are suspended until at least 2021—and Ontario is considering whether to abolish them altogether. By contrast, Alberta is allowing ...

September 1, 2020 was a historic day for domestic arbitration in British Columbia for three reasons:

• The BC International Commercial Arbitration Centre changed its name and became the “Vancouver International Arbitration Centre” (referred to as “VanIAC”);
• The province’s new Arbitration Act (the “New Act”) came into force; and
• VanIAC’s updated ...

The Supreme Court of Canada rules on anti-SLAPP motions and articulates a test with multiple stages, shifting burdens, differing standards of proof, and the weighing of expression in the public interest. 

On September 10, 2020 the Supreme Court of Canada released two SLAPP-suit (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) decisions, providing guidance on the ...

As “baby boomers” age, their families are left to confront a myriad of medical, social, practical and legal issues that can arise in providing ongoing care and support. Poor health, limited finances and, frequently, varying degrees of mental incompetence can make this task emotionally and legally difficult. Add in strained intra-family relationships and the ...

More often than not, sequels can’t live up to the original.  Case in point: Jaws 2.  But this blog post sequel aims to be better, like The Dark Knight.

In Part I of this blog post, we looked at the basic facts of Weaver v. Ball. The case involved two well-known scholars, Dr. Andrew Weaver and Dr. Timothy Ball, who have diametrically opposing viewpoints regarding climate change. In ...

The Alberta Court of Appeal recently released two insurance coverage decisions analyzing:

• What facts would trigger the insurer’s duty to defend; and
• Whether a policy covered property damage that resulted from a contractor’s faulty workmanship.

In both cases, the three-justice panel decided against the insurer.

The Duty to Defend

In Intact Insurance Company v ...

In Atlantic Lottery Corp. v. Babstock, 2020 SCC 19 (Babstock), released July 24, 2020, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) unanimously confirmed that “waiver of tort” is not an independent cause of action for disgorgement. To make out a claim for disgorgement, a gain-based remedy, a claimant must first establish actionable misconduct. Further, according to the ...