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 [...]

Much to the disappointment of Canadians, hockey does not really find its way into the news in the middle of summer. However, earlier in July, a decision was handed down by the Ontario Court of Appeal that answers a question of national importance: whose beer advertisements will dominate hockey ads? The lawsuit pit two of [...]

The Ontario Court of Appeal released a judgment this past summer with significant importance for those interested in Canadian class action suits.  This decision marks the first time the Ontario Court of Appeal has certified a competition class action, and should be closely followed by franchisors with vertical pricing agreements. As noted by S. Dhawan [...]

Every student has, at one point or another, wondered what may happen if they find themselves entangled in a dispute with their educational institution.  For one York University student, that musing became reality after a dispute with the university wound up before the Ontario Court of Appeal in Jaffer v. York University, 2010 ONCA 654.  [...]

Introduction Last week, Tercon v. Ministry of Transportation and Highways, 2010 SCC 4, the Supreme Court of Canada revisited the doctrine of fundamental breach. While  in Hunter Engineering Co. v. Syncrude Canada Ltd., 1989 S.C.R. 129, the Court had previously professed to abandon the doctrine, the competing approaches offered in that judgement raised questions as to when [...]

If there’s anything that can come close to being a guaranteed money-maker these days, it’s probably a casino. Any disagreement about who gets to share in the spoils of owning a casino is almost sure to go before a judge. So when Ontario’s First Nations got into a dispute about who was getting what of [...]

On October 1st, 2009, the Ontario Court of Appeal released its judgment in Sutts, Strosberg LLP v. Atlas Cold Storage Holdings Inc., 2009 ONCA 690. The significance of this case lies in its status as one of the few securities class actions in Canada. One counsel submitted that this “was the third largest securities class [...]

Womens’ Rights groups including the Legal Education Action Fund, (LEAF), (who intervened in the decision) are rejoicing at the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Rick v. Brandsema 2009 SCC 10. The top court overturned the BC Court of Appeal decision awarding Nancy Rick, compensation amounting to $650,000 based in part on the exploitative tactics [...]

On February 19th, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in Rick v. Brandsema, 2009 SCC 10, in which it clarifies some issues arising out of an earlier Supreme Court decision, Miglin v. Miglin, [2003] 1 S.C.R. 303. Berend Brandsema and Nancy Rick were married in 1973. Together they established a dairy farm, Brandy [...]

In preparing to write about Shafron v. KRG Insurance Brokers (Western) Inc., 2009 SCC 6, I prepared myself for a complicated analysis of restrictive covenants in employment contracts. The facts of this case were so detailed, they must have indicated a correspondingly complex legal analysis. I was pleased to discover, however, that the 10-year factual [...]