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Good evening.

Following are the summaries for this week’s civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario. There were only three substantive decisions.

Topics covered this week included wills and estates (capacity and undue influence), insurance coverage in the MVA context where there was a question of intentional acts as opposed to mere negligence, and the familiar issue of whether an order is final or interlocutory for appeal purposes.

Finally, my partner, Lea Nebel, and I invite you to our third annual Top Appeals CLE, which will take place at the OBA, 20 Toronto Street, Toronto, on Monday, February 25. It is a three hour dinner program beginning at 5pm, which will also be available by live webcast for those who cannot attend in person. Continue Reading BLANEY’S APPEALS: ONTARIO COURT OF APPEAL SUMMARIES (FEBRUARY 11 – 15, 2019)

Jump To: Table of Contents | Civil Decisions | Short Civil Decisions | Criminal Decisions | Ontario Review Board

Good afternoon,

Following are the summaries for this week’s civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario (there were only three substantive decisions).

In Lam v University of Western Ontario, 2019 ONCA 82, the appellant claim against the university had been dismissed by way of summary judgment. The appellant claimed that he was pressured to switch out of a Ph.D program and into a master’s program, in breach of contract and/or fiduciary duty. The appellant alleged that the committee lacked, or was unwilling to acquire, the necessary expertise in his area of research, and was misled and provided knowingly incorrect information about the availability and security of his funding. The motion judge had dismissed the claim largely on the basis of a determination that this was an academic matter that ought to have been pursued through the academic appeals process. The Court of Appeal disagreed and allowed the appeal. The Court confirmed that a relationship between a student and a university is contractual in nature, therefore there can be claims for breach of contract. The key to determining whether a claim is properly before the court as a breach of contract claim is the remedy sought. In this case, damages for breach of contract was the remedy sought, therefore this was properly before the civil courts and not a matter for the internal academic appeals process.

Other topics covered this week included the limitation period for enforcing foreign judgments (the later of the two years from the expiry of the appeal period from the foreign judgment and when the plaintiff knew or ought to have known that there were assets in Ontario against which the plaintiff could enforce its judgment), and striking pleadings as an abuse of process (attempt to re-litigate). Continue Reading BLANEY’S APPEALS: ONTARIO COURT OF APPEAL SUMMARIES (FEBRUARY 4 – 8, 2019)

Jump To: Table of Contents | Civil Decisions | Short Civil Decisions | Criminal DecisionS 

Good evening,

Here are this week’s summaries of the civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario.

In Presley v Van Dusen, the Court of Appeal yet again dealt with discoverability. The case reviews the elements for analyzing discoverability under section 5 of the Limitations Act, 2002, including the “appropriate means” test, and discusses what kind of professional relationships may give rise to reasonable reliance.

In McDowell v. Fortress Real Capital Inc., the Court of Appeal overturned in part a motion judge’s decision to strike out the claims of a proposed class proceeding for various allegations of misconduct. In so doing, the Court canvassed the law relating to personal liability for corporate acts, the sealed contract rule and the rights of beneficiaries of a trust to assert the claims belonging to the trustee.

Continue Reading BLANEY’S APPEALS: ONTARIO COURT OF APPEAL SUMMARIES (JANUARY 28 – FEBRUARY 1, 2019)