The Deal Gets Approval On June 20th, 2008 the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) over-turned the Quebec Court of Appeal (QCA) and held that the plan of arrangement taking BCE Inc. (BCE) private did not improperly neglect a subsidiary’s (Bell Canada) bondholders’ interests. The heavily leveraged ($30B) buy-out of shareholders claims ($51.7B) will proceed next […]
In its much anticipated May 2008 decision in Design Services v. Canada, 2008 SCC 22 the Supreme Court of Canada shut the lid on a Pandora’s Box of potential future litigation when it denied the right of subcontractors to leapfrog general contractors and directly sue purchasing institutions over irregularities in the tendering process. The outcome […]
This post was originally published on the Blog maintained by the Faculty of Law at the University of Alberta. It is reproduced here with permission. Last week's decision in Design Services Ltd. v. Canada , 2008 SCC 22 marks something of a coming-of-age for the Supreme Court of Canada in its handling of claims for […]
Remember the famous scene from the movie "Jerry McGuire" where sports agent Jerry has just been fired by his agency and is in his office frantically trying to contact all of his clients in a futile attempt to retain their business? Unfortunately for Jerry, his rival agent, Bob Sugar, has already prepared for this and […]
I remember reading about an old case in first year contracts about a man whose horse lost a shoe while he was travelling to marry a rich heiress. The blacksmith he hired to replace the horsehoe did the work poorly and made the horse lame. Consequently, the man missed his wedding and the heiress married […]
On October 11, 2007, the Supreme Court of Canada is scheduled to hear the appeal in Jedfro Investments (USA) Limited, et al v Nadia Jacyk, in her capacity as Litigation Administrator for the estate of Peter Jacyk, et al, a case which deals with the question of what happens to the enforceability of a contract […]
On August 23, 2007, the SCC dismissed an application for an extension of time to apply for leave to appeal in the case of Danian Wang v. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of the Province of British Columbia as Represented by British Columbia Ministry of Advanced Education Student Service Branch (B.C.). In doing so, […]
In last year's Fidler v. Sun Life Insurance Co. of Canada, the Supreme Court outlined the current state of compensation for mental distress under contract law, and also explained the appropriate circumstances in which punitive damages may be awarded. While the SCC overturned the B.C. Court of Appeal’s award of punitive damages - an argument […]
On June 21, 2007, the SCC granted an application for leave to appeal in the case of Mustapha v. Culligan of Canada Ltd., 84 OR (3d) 457. This tort law case examines foreseeability of psychiatric harm in a peculiar factual context. Mr. Mustapha, the plaintiff, immigrated to Canada from Lebanon in 1976 and operated two successful […]
It is often remarked that Canada is a multicultural society perpetually striving to affirm the equality and dignity of all her citizens. Such recognition, however, should not blind us to the reality that multiculturalism is a road upon which we continue to sometimes awkwardly stumble. This is particularly the case at the interstice between religious […]