In my previous post here on The Court, I discussed the upcoming appeal of Bhasin v. Hrynew, 2013 ABCA 98, and how the Supreme Court of Canada has an opportunity to clarify whether contractual interpretation should be guided primarily by the intention of the contracting parties at the time the agreement was made (the intentionalist […]
On August 22, 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada agreed to hear an appeal from the Alberta Court of Appeal’s decision in Bhasin v. Hrynew, 2013 ABCA 98. The SCC’s granting of leave in Bhasin signals the Court’s eagerness to determine a longstanding legal debate about the judicial interpretation of contracts and the duty to […]
Normal 0 Colleges and universities should take note of recent Ontario court rulings, and exercise due care in what they print in their course descriptions. Students are entitled to rely on the Consumer Protection Act (CPA). They can in principle sue a college or university for damages if a program of study is misrepresented. Last […]
Contracts is an ancient, well-trodden area of the law, and contract cases rarely get to the Supreme Court. A recent case that might make it there concerns a move by General Motors (in dire financial straits at the time) to reduce the health and life insurance benefits of its non-union retirees. The case is a […]
Last week, Tercon v Ministry of Transportation and Highways, 2010 SCC 4, the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") revisited the doctrine of fundamental breach. While in Hunter Engineering Co v Syncrude Canada Ltd, [1989] 1 SCR 426 [Syncrude], the Court had previously professed to abandon the doctrine, the competing approaches offered in that judgement raised questions as to when […]
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 [Rick]. 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 ("SCC") released its decision in Rick v Brandsema, 2009 SCC 10 [Rick], in which it clarifies some issues arising out of an earlier SCC decision, Miglin v Miglin, [2003] 1 SCR 303 [Miglin].
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 […]
Unions - stalwart defenders of workers' rights that they are - seldom find themselves defendants in wrongful dismissal matters, much less defendants in front of the Supreme Court of Canada. Nevertheless, the Yukon-based Local 31 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters will have that dubious distinction when Canada's highest court hears Evans v Teamsters Local […]
Before 2007 fades too quickly in the rearview mirror, there is still time to stop and briefly visit the last Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") decision of the previous year. On Dec. 20, 2007, the SCC released their unanimous decision in Jedfro Investments (USA) Ltd v Jacyk, 2007 SCC 55. We first looked at this case […]