Civil Litigation
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November 14, 2024
Environmental law group sues Alberta over disclosure of mercury emissions at waste treatment plant
An environmental law group has filed a lawsuit against the province of Alberta over its alleged failure to disclose information about mercury emissions at a hazardous waste treatment centre.
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November 14, 2024
ONCA orders rehearing of youth-led climate lawsuit
On Oct. 17, 2024, the Ontario Court of Appeal (the ONCA) delivered its much-anticipated decision in Mathur (Litigation guardian of) v. Ontario, 2024 ONCA 762. In a unanimous ruling, the ONCA concluded that the application judge misinterpreted the applicants’ arguments, mistakenly viewing them as urging the court to impose obligations on the Ontario government to address climate change in a way that would protect rights to life, liberty, security and equality under ss. 7 and 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the Charter).
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November 14, 2024
CUSTODY, PARENTING, AND ACCESS - Best interests of child - Status quo or maintenance of stable environment
Motion by Appellant mother ("Appellant") to stay an order for the child's return to Bangladesh. Motion by Respondent father ("Respondent") requiring Appellant to post security for costs for her appeal. The parties travelled to Canada with their child for a vacation. During their stay, the Appellant desired to remain in the country permanently by seeking asylum, which the Respondent opposed.
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November 14, 2024
Blakes signs on new partner for IP litigation work
Geoffrey Mowatt, an intellectual property litigator with nearly two decades of practice, has joined the Toronto office of Blakes as a partner and co-leader of the firm’s intellectual property litigation practice, along with Fiona Legere.
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November 14, 2024
Prosecuting civil tort claims in context of family proceedings following Ahluwalia appeal
Since the Ontario Court of Appeal decision in Ahluwalia v. Ahluwalia 2023 ONCA 476, in which the creation of a new tort of family violence was rejected as unnecessary because existing torts are sufficient, there has been some uncertainty about how civil claims arising from intimate partner violence and abuse should be dealt with in the context of family law proceedings.
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November 14, 2024
Removal of untranslated English decisions on website won’t end novel lawsuit against SCC: plaintiff
The Supreme Court of Canada’s removal of thousands of pre-1970 (mostly unilingual-English) judgments from its website won’t end an unprecedented Federal Court lawsuit that aims to compel the top court’s registry to fix alleged violations of the Official Languages Act by translating the court’s unilingual decisions into the other official language, says the plaintiff language rights group Droits collectifs Québec.
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November 14, 2024
Limitation applicable to constructive trust and unjust enrichment claims
The decision in Ingram v. Kulynych Estate, 2024 ONCA 678 (Ingram), by the Ontario Court of Appeal addressed whether the 10-year limitation period under s. 4 of the Real Property Limitations Act R.S.O. 1990, c. L.15 (RPLA) applies to the respondent, Kathleen Ingram’s, constructive trust and unjust enrichment claim against Henry Kulynych’s estate rather than the two-year period under s. 38(3) of the Trustee Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. T.23 (Trustee Act).
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November 14, 2024
Judicial review of a regulation | Sara Blake
The Supreme Court has confirmed the established scope of review of the validity of regulations: Auer v. Auer, [2024] S.C.J. No. 36. First, it has confirmed that regulations are reviewable only if they are inconsistent with their enabling statute or the Constitution. Second, the court confirmed that regulations are not reviewable as to whether, as a matter of policy, they are necessary, wise or effective in practice.
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November 13, 2024
CanLII sues AI-based legal research platform for alleged data scraping and copyright violations
The Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII) has filed a lawsuit against a company behind an AI chatbot over allegations it bulk downloaded over 3.5 million records from CanLII’s website in violation of its terms of service and its copyright in the relevant works.
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November 13, 2024
National workplace health and safety organization launches online portal for businesses
The Hamilton, Ont.-based Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) has launched an online portal aimed at helping small and medium-sized businesses stay on the right side of workplace safety laws and regulations.