Court Comes Down Hard on Defendant Who Sought Costs After Being Given the Opportunity to be Released on a Without Cost Basis. The Defendant in this case was the Ministry of Transportation (“MTO”) who was added as a third party by the defendant in a motor vehicle accident case, and shortly after the MTO provided……
News
Signatory to Lease Must Pay Rent Arrears Even if they Never Set Foot in Leased Premises or Paid Rent Historically
SIGNING LEASE BINDS PERSON TO PAY RENTAL ARREARS EVEN IF THEY NEVER SET FOOT IN LEASED PREMISES OR PAID RENT HISTORICALLY. The Divisional Court upheld the Small Claims Court ruling that made a signatory to the lease pay the rental arrears in circumstances where this person was simply lending his name on the lease to……
HOMEOWNERS’ INSURER DOES NOT HAVE TO DEFEND PARENTS WHOSE CHILD ACTED INTENTIONALLY TO ABUSE FELLOW STUDENT
This court ruling deals with often thorny issue of what to do with innocent policy holders who are being sued for not adequately supervising people under their control: in this case it was parents being sued for the awful acts of their child who physically assaulted a fellow student and uploaded video of assault on……
Court Outlines the Many Ways Damages can be Calculated in Failed Real Estate Sale
This case contains a good summary of the many ways the courts have calculated damages when a vendor refuses to close, essentially confirming that it is a very fluid process that isn’t always easy to predict. Tega Homes (Attika) Inc. v. Spencedale Properties Limited et. al., 2022 ONSC 75 (CanLII) https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2022/2022onsc75/2022onsc75.html
Personal Injury Claims in Small Claims Court:
The Nuts and Bolts Since its inception over 200 years ago, the Small Claims Court (often referred to hereinafter as the “Court”) has generally been considered the forum for people to resolve small contractual disputes,[1] and although the Court will always remain contract-centric, it is also a viable forum to resolve personal injury claims, which……
The All-Inclusive Conundrum
This article explores the many challenges facing a claimant and their lawyer when their retainer agreement is contingency fee based and offers to settle are expressed in “all-inclusive” terms. These challenges include the need to reverse engineer the all-inclusive offer so that it can be broken down into its constituent elements before additional math is……
Resolving Costs at Mediation – A Primer
There are many issues that arise when the parties attempt to resolve the legal fees and disbursements to be paid, if any, during a mediation. Costs have to be negotiated just like all the other elements of the case. Disbursements are often hotly debated, and this article takes a closer look at how disbursements are treated, concluding with a helpful chart that defines how various disbursements are categorized under the legislation and treated by the courts, to help guide the parties through their settlement negotiations.
“Mediation Confidentiality” in Pleadings
It has long been established that absent some unusual circumstances, parties engaged in without prejudice settlement discussions (whether it be through mediation or otherwise) cannot lead such evidence at trial until after the verdict (provided of course that those without prejudice discussions are relevant, such as for assessing costs). Recently the court in Isenberg v. Erem, 2020 ONSC 444 confirmed that this privilege extends to pleadings as well, and clarified that it is not necessarily every reference to “mediation” that must be removed: but rather, just those paragraphs touching on what was discussed during mediation.
Mediating LTD Claims – The Nuances
Mediated disputes generally share the same essential elements: an approach that is civil, courteous, reasoned, and full of compromises. Mediation of long term disability (“LTD”) claims are no exception, but they do give rise to some inherently unique issues that set them apart from their oft-related personal injury counterparts, and these differences warrant hiring a mediator astute to these nuanced variations.
Partial Settlement Structures
– An imperfect solution to a complex resolution. Leading into April 2019, and only months apart, two appellate courts (Alberta and Ontario) raised serious questions about the efficacy of imposing the rule against overcompensation on plaintiffs who negotiated favourable partial settlements. Notwithstanding these two appellate courts effectively lobbying the Supreme Court of Canada to intervene,……
A Rare Ontario Statutory Right to Mediation
Parties involved in a motor vehicle accident claim have a very special statutory right to mediate that isn’t available to any other civil litigant: it shouldn’t be taken for granted.
Calculating PreJudgment Interest – Not as Easy as it Appears
Intuitively, prejudgment interest should be something that is very easy to calculate for Ontario litigants involved in civil disputes: the reality, however, is that it is laden with many complex parts and nuances. It could have, and should have, been made easy, given that not too many lawyers and judges are adept at math, but…