At the Court  is a biweekly feature profiling appeals that are scheduled to be heard at the Supreme Court of Canada. R v DC and R v Mabior: Revising Cuerrier? The Supreme Court will be revisiting the highly contentious Cuerrier decision on February 8 when it hears R v DC and R v Mabior together. [...]

Mrs. Penner was on trial for the weighty offense of not properly displaying two valid license plates. Mr. Penner, her husband and the appellant in a juicy case before the SCC this month, sat in the very back of the courthouse, wearing sunglasses and chewing gum. Cst. Koscinski sat directly behind Mr. Penner, awaiting an [...]

In September 2005, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) held that British Columbia’s Tobacco Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act (“CRA”) was constitutional in British Columbia v. Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd., 2005 SCC 49. The CRA allows the provincial government to recover smoking-related healthcare costs from tobacco companies. In response to the decision, the tobacco [...]

The legal concept of property is fluid and dynamic. It evolves over time in relation to “changes in the purposes which society or the dominant classes in society expect the institution of property to serve” [CB Macpherson in Mary Jane Mossman & William F Flanagan, eds, Property Law Cases and Commentary (Toronto: Edmond Montgomery Publications) [...]

Irate consumers can now ignore arbitration clauses and pursue class action lawsuits against corporations even after signing away their rights to do so in a waiver. In a narrow 5-4 split decision in Seidel v. TELUS Communications Inc., 2011 SCC 15, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) ruled that corporations could no longer preclude class actions [...]

Last week, TheCourt.ca glossed a case heard at the Alberta Court of Appeal, which essentially blocks animal activists from seeking a court declaration that the City of Edmonton is mistreating Lucy, the lone elephant in the zoo. Justice Slatter, with Justice Costigan concurring, penned the reasons for judgment of the majority of the bench. The [...]

Lucy, a thirty-six-year old Asian elephant in the Edmonton zoo, is loved by everyone from William Shatner to Margaret Atwood. For the last few months, Lucy has found herself embroiled in a legal battle in the province of Alberta. Much to the chagrin of her famous friends, animal rights activists and animal lovers, the Court [...]

This March, the United States Supreme Court (“SCOTUS”) will consider whether to certify the largest employment discrimination class action in the country’s history.  For nearly ten years, Betty Dukes and five other representative plaintiffs have held the “David v. Goliath” title after they brought a lawsuit against Wal-Mart on behalf of all women employed by [...]

Fair is foul, and foul is fair: an overview The latest development in the David and Goliath saga that is The Canadian Government v. Alan N. Young is as intriguing as always, yet also somewhat disheartening. It pits Osgoode’s venerable criminal law professor in his role as Co-Founder/Director of the Innocence Project, an organization that [...]

As it stands, 2010 has been an interesting year for members of the media and media lawyers who are interested in the legal dimensions of the relationship between a journalist and her source. In particular, the Supreme Court of Canada has weighed in on two different issues related to journalist-source privilege. Earlier this year, in [...]