Top 10 business decisions of 2022, Part I – – – and the law firm players
By Julius Melnitzer | January 18, 2023 What follows is the first part of our third annual list of the Top 10 business decisions in Canada for the just-ended year. This is a two-part series, which begins below with numbers 6-10, in ascending order. Read Part I here. 10. Nova Chemicals Corp. v. Dow Chemical […]
Ontario tribunal determines employer entitled to $320K pension surplus
By Julius Melnitzer | January 7, 2023 The Financial Services Tribunal of Ontario has allowed an employer to keep a $320,000 pension surplus, despite the plan’s trust agreements’ silence as to surplus entitlement. “The requirements for an employer to receive 100 per cent of surplus are strict, but the tribunal took a practical [approach] as […]
Child support disputes burgeoning
Laura Paris says courts can overrule termination language for adult child support. By Julius Melnitzer | January 5, 2023 As inflation persists and a recession hovers, disputes over child support, including its continuation past age 18, are burgeoning. “Child support, which is reviewable annually, has become a bigger issue with inflation as there’s no automatic cut-off […]
Cryptocurrency fraud remedies available but enforcement difficult in Ontario
Enforcing civil remedies for crypto fraud is at least 50 percent of the problem, says Lou Brzezinski By Julius Melnitzer | January 4, 2023 As the investment hub of one of the most crypto-obsessed countries in the world, Ontario will need appropriate legal remedies to deal with the currency’s problems, evidenced most recently by the […]
Law Society of Ontario accepts license surrender from lawyer Jerry Nesker who misused trust account
Bill Trudell says his client was trying to help a client and didn’t intend wrongdoing. By Julius Melnitzer | January 3, 2023 The Law Society Tribunal has allowed veteran Toronto lawyer Jerry Nesker to surrender his license after using his trust account to permit transfers of $150 million from abroad for purposes unrelated to the practice […]
Ottawa lawyer James Bowie, accused of sexual misconduct, suspended by LSO in unrelated proceedings
Ottawa lawyer James Bowie was suspended by the Law Society of Ontario indefinitely. By Julius Melnitzer | January 2, 2023 The Law Society of Ontario has suspended embattled Ottawa lawyer James Bowie indefinitely until he responds satisfactorily to investigators’ requests to produce books and records related to his practice. When and if he does so, the […]
OCA orders new trial for accused whose lawyer ‘conscripted him into assisting his own prosecution’
The Ontario Court of Appeal said counsel’s incompetence was ‘pervasive.’ By Julius Melnitzer | December 31, 2022 The Ontario Court of Appeal has ordered a new trial for an accused whose lawyer, Toronto’s Janice R. Johnson, a 35-year veteran of the criminal bar, “conscripted [him] into assisting his own prosecution.” The OCA’s reasons are damning. […]
Court awards 24 months’ notice to Air Canada employee terminated as part of COVID layoff
George Avraam says the high-end award is consistent with COVID-related wrongful dismissal jurisprudence. By Julius Melnitzer | December 29, 2022 In a judgment that amounts to a handbook for employers and employers involved in COVID-based terminations, the Ontario Superior Court has awarded 24 months’ notice to an Air Canada employee with 23.5 years’ service laid […]
OCA refuses to extend intrusion upon seclusion liability to hacked commercial database holders
Craig Lockwood says the trilogy did not diminish privacy interests By Julius Melnitzer | December 19, 2022 The lawyer for one of the plaintiffs involved in the Ontario Court of Appeal’s recent refusal to expand the tort of intrusion upon seclusion to defendants who fail to adequately protect personal information collected and stored for commercial purposes […]
Canada’s legal tuition fees among highest in the world
Chris Bentley says tuition fees are hardly the only costs law students face in getting their training By Julius Melnitzer | December 12, 2022 Canada is the third costliest country in the world to train as a lawyer, according to an analysis of university tuition and administrative fees in 50 countries conducted by The Mobile Bank […]