Torts
Defamation in the Twitterverse: Levant v Day
Introduction It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them. – Mark Twain, Following the Equator What does harm to the reputation of a polarizing public figure entail? What is the […]
1688782 Ontario Inc. v Maple Leaf Foods Inc. : Disenfranchised Franchisees Demand Tort Damages for Lost Profit
In 1688782 Ontario Inc. v. Maple Leaf Foods Inc., 2018 ONCA 407 [Maple Leaf], the Court of Appeal for Ontario (“ONCA”) evaluated whether a duty of care arose in the well-publicized case of listeria outbreak involving Maple Leaf Foods, which resulted in 22 deaths across Canada back in August 2008. The novelty facing the court was that […]
Breach of the Peace: ONCA Addresses Police Power to Arrest in Fleming v Ontario
Tensions can run high during political demonstrations, and police are often deployed to monitor the situation and prevent an escalating conflict. In doing so, police have a common law power to arrest individuals when they believe an arrest may prevent a breach of the peace without the requirement that police believe that the person being […]
SCC to Consider Multinational Corporate Accountability in Araya v Nevsun: A Q&A with Plaintiffs' Counsel
In January 2019, the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”), will be hearing an appeal of Araya v Nevsun, 2017 BCCA 401 [Nevsun], which involves a group of Eritrean plaintiffs who filed a claim for damages at the Supreme Court of British Columbia (“BCSC”) against Nevsun Resources Ltd. (“Nevsun”), a Canadian mining company based in Vancouver, for gross […]
SCC to Hear Woman Arrested for Not Holding a Handrail
The Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) will hear Bela Kosoian, a woman arrested in a Quebec subway station for failing to hold an escalator handrail. Leave was granted on Thursday, November 15. I will discuss the background, legal framework, and procedural history of this case – which was recently featured in headlines internationally—before offering some […]
Rankin’s Garage & Sales v JJ : Do You Owe a Duty of Care to Those Who Steal From Your Business?
This case is a follow-up to TheCourt.ca’s previous analysis of this case when it was first heard before the Supreme Court of Canada in January of 2018. For many first-year law students, their introduction to tort law is rooted in the seminal British case Anns v Merton London Borough Council, [1978] AC 728 [Anns] and its Canadian […]
Haaretz.com v Goldhar : The SCC Analyzes Legal Jurisdiction in the Internet Age
As the extensive reach of the Internet continues to blur borders, so too are issues of legal jurisdiction increasingly entwined. Courts are now frequently called upon to reconcile a once novel question: are our current laws still appropriate in a digital age? The rise of the Internet particularly challenges Canadian courts to determine when they […]
Deloitte & Touche v Livent Inc.: A New Duty of Care for Auditors
On December 20, 2017, the Supreme Court of Canada (the “Court”) released Deloitte & Touche v Livent Inc., 2017 SCC 63 [Livent], a decision in which the Court refined the framework for analyzing a defendant’s duty of care in cases of negligent misrepresentation of performance of a service. This decision has far-reaching consequences for auditors, […]