Small Claims Court
Under section 23 of the Courts of Justice Act the Small Claims Court has a limited jurisdiction. The CJA provides Small Claims Court has jurisdiction in any action for the…
James C Morton
Trudeau right to comment on jury selection
Neither the Prime Minister nor Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould made a specific comment on whether the Gerald Stanley case was rightly decided. But they did say that the way juries…
Guilty Plea Not Always Leading to Mitigation of Sentence
R. v. F.H.L., 2018 ONCA 83: A plea of guilt does not entitle an offender to a set standard of mitigation. The amount of credit a guilty plea attracts will…
Limits on Summary Judgment? Lesenko v. Guerette, 2017 ONCA 522
Used appropriately, summary judgment motions are an important tool for enhancing access to justice and achieving proportionate, timely and cost-effective adjudication: Hryniak v. Mauldin, 2014 SCC 7, 1 S.C.R. 87.…
Expert Evidence
Bruff-Murphy v. Gunawardena, 2017 ONCA 502: In White Burgess, a decision released shortly before the judgment under appeal, the Supreme Court of Canada provided clarity and guidance regarding challenges to…
Supreme Court Doubles Down on Jordan
R. v. Cody, 2017 SCC 31: Constitutional law — Charter of Rights — Right to be tried within a reasonable time — Pre‑Jordan delay of more than five years between…
Jordan analysis for Charter delay applications
R. v. Islam, 2017 ONCJ 335 is a useful case for POA prosecutions. Some take aways include: S11(b) Jordan analysis applies to POA matters. Time runs on Part 1 POA…
Important Bail Case from Supreme Court of Canada
R. v. Antic (June 1), 2017 SCC 27 (S.C.C.) 67 Therefore, the following principles and guidelines should be adhered to when applying the bail provisions in a contested hearing: (a)…
Notes on Bail, Hearsay and Search Warrant review
Justification for detention In Canada, there are only three grounds for detaining an accused prior to sentence. They are commonly referred to as primary grounds, secondary grounds, and tertiary grounds.…
Pre-Charge delay
The Supreme Court today (R. v. Hunt 2017 SCC 25) upheld a lower court decision (R. v. Hunt, 2016 NLCA 61) which limited the effect of pre-charge delay to rare…
Limitation does not run against tortfeasor who caused damages while tortfeasor is trying to fix problem
Presidential MSH Corporation v. Marr Foster & Co. LLP, 2017 ONCA 325: First, the cases suggest that a legal proceeding against an expert professional may not be appropriate if the…
Damages for bad faith in terminating a partnership
Tim Ludwig Professional Corporation v. BDO Canada LLP, 2017 ONCA 292: Keays holds that, because employers have an implied contractual obligation of good faith in the manner of dismissal, damages…
Medical Malpractice
Incompetent treatment by medical practitioners is quite rare. That's why, when it does happen, incompetent medical care is a big news story. It's a bit like the example of how…
Expert Evidence Voir Dire Primer
A trial judge must determine on a voir dire whether the individual is qualified as an expert, and if so, what the "nature and scope of the proposed expert evidence"…
Deposits and Unconscionabilty
Redstone Enterprises Ltd. v. Simple Technology Inc., 2017 ONCA 282: Deposits are commonplace in the operation of the market, especially for larger assets such as residential and commercial real estate.…
How to Adopt a Child in Nunavut
R.A v. S.K. and D.K. 2017 NUCJ 5: In Nunavut there are two ways of adopting a child. One way is in accordance with Inuit custom. This does not involve…
Confession Rule does not apply to Charter Voir Dire
R. v. Paterson, 2017 SCC 15: The confessions rule should not be expanded to apply to statements tendered in the context of a voir dire under the Charter . The…
Reasonable Apprehension of Bias
Miracle v. Maracle III, 2017 ONCA 195: The test for reasonable apprehension of bias laid down and consistently endorsed by the Supreme Court of Canada is: what would an informed…
Reasonable Apprehension of Bias
Miracle v. Maracle III, 2017 ONCA 195: The test for reasonable apprehension of bias laid down and consistently endorsed by the Supreme Court of Canada is: what would an informed…
Expert Police Evidence Excluded for Lack of Independence
R. v. McManus, 2017 ONCA 188: (c) The Relevant Principles To be admitted into evidence, an expert’s opinion must be (1) logically relevant to an issue in the proceedings; (2)…