Last week, The Court discussed the constitutionality of the proposed federal Securities Act. This second post discusses the potential effects that the Act may have on the securities trade in Canada. In a move to address systemic inconsistencies in Canadian securities regulation, the federal government recently drafted a federal Securities Act, intended to coordinate and [...]

The pirated DVDs? The fake Coach purse? The imitation I-Pod? Hide them. Burn them. Throw them away. Courts have brought the full wrath of law on those dealing in counterfeit goods in the form on substantial damage awards. Starting with Microsoft Corp v. 9038-3746 Quebec Inc., 2006 FC 1509, all the way to the most [...]

On September 2, 2008, various holders of Asset Back Commercial Paper notes, sought leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada in Re Metcalfe & Mansfield Alternative Investments II Corp. following the Ontario Court of Appeal’s approval of a Plan of Compromise and Agreement, which takes away the ABCP holders’ rights to sue third [...]

The Supreme Court’s decision last March in Dunsmuir v. New Brunswick, 2008 SCC 9 was widely recognized as a watershed event in Supreme Court jurisprudence. Indeed, even for those not steeped in administrative law, Dunsmuir appreciably changed the optics of judicial review; the court not only eschewed the much maligned ‘patent unreasonableness’ standard of review, [...]

If there was any opportunity for the Supreme Court to revise some of the basic tort rules, it was remised in Mustapha v. Culligan of Canada Ltd, 2008 SCC 27. Perhaps the case turned out as it did because psychological harm is not truly synonymous with physical harm despite the judges’ proclamations (in para 8). [...]

On May 19, 2005, the SCC delivered an interesting decision in a case relating to damages and costs within the context of consumer protection issues. Prebushewski v. Dodge City Auto (1984) Ltd., [2005] 1 S.C.R. 649, examines s. 65 of the Consumer Protection Act, S.S. 1996, c. C-30.1. and decides whether an award of exemplary [...]

On July 13, 2007, the Supreme Court of Japan held in two cases that consumer-loan companies return not only excessive payments of unlawful interest to borrowers but also to pay the statutory interest that accrued from the excessive payments, because the consumer-loan companies were found to be bad faith beneficiaries of unjust enrichment. Japanese courts [...]

Last Friday, the SCC released Dell Computer Corp. v. Union des consommateurs, 2007 SCC 34, a major case which has implications on topics ranging from private international law to the ability of arbitrators to rule on the extent of their own jurisdictions. More notably, released alongside its companion case, Rogers Wireless Inc. v. Muroff, 2007 [...]

Both the majority and dissent in two cases on arbitration clauses that came out of the Supreme Court of Canada on Friday, July 13 make statements in obiter to the effect that the class action is not a public order institution of Canadian law. Ironically, when the Dell and Rogers cases are placed in a [...]

In light of The Court’s recent encounter with trademark laws, this seems an apt time to review the Supreme Court of Canada’s update on trademark laws in this country as found in two recent cases, Mattel, Inc. v. 3894207 Canada Inc. and Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin v. Boutiques Cliquot Ltee. Both of these cases dealt with [...]