Third-party litigation financing presently plays a role in class actions and personal injury cases in Canada. After the event (ATE) insurance is increasingly common for plaintiffs to obtain in pursuing a personal injury case. Such insurance covers the expense that unsuccessful party has to pay towards the successful party’s legal fees. This is invaluable for […]
In a decision released this summer, the Supreme Court of Canada has clarified that a psychiatric diagnosis is not required to find damages for mental illness. Recognition of mental injury and awards of damages have had a dismal history in Canada. For most of our court history, damages for such injuries have not been easy […]
Two online payment companies that operate within Canada have been ordered to turn over information about their account holders to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). On November 10, 2017, PayPal received a Federal Court Order requiring them to disclose information relating to Canadian users that hold a business account and have received or sent a […]
Unless specific circumstances have been met in a criminal case, or the case in question is a Reference, appeals are heard by the Supreme Court only if leave to appeal is given. The standard for whether leave will be given is when the case involves a question of public importance. Recently, the Supreme Court has […]
On November 5, 2017, another leak of offshore tax haven information, dubbed the “Paradise Papers”, was disclosed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). As a result of the leak of confidential records comprising the Paradise Papers, a number of the world’s elite have been identified as having offshore accounts and connections including, Queen […]
On July 18, 2017, the Department of Finance released a set of proposals to amend the Income Tax Act (the “July 18 Proposals”). The position taken by the Department of Finance and the rhetoric surrounding the July 18 Proposals were that the proposed tax measures were designed to “improve the fairness of Canada’s tax system […]
For Canadian businesses that are growing insecure about the potential consequences resulting from the re-negotiation of NAFTA, CETA may be an opportunity to diversify ties to the international market. Any changes to NAFTA could have significant consequences to Canadian industries, as the United States is Canada’s largest trading partner. Trump’s America First/Buy American domestic policies […]
There has been a lot of discussion lately around the recent slow downs to the real estate markets in Toronto and surrounding areas. A number of factors can be said to be contributing to the changes in these previously hot markets, including a number of measures introduced by the Ontario government earlier in the year […]
Recently, Fiera Foods, an industrial bakery in Toronto, came under fire for the third death of a worker at its factory since 1999. All three workers were temporary workers and killed in workplace accidents, giving rise to questions of the quality of training that such employees received. A temporary worker is more likely to be […]
Trump has recently announced that the controversial DACA program is coming to an end. He has turned the decision over to Congress to determine the proper legislative response to ensure that the future of undocumented persons is constitutional. The program has been suspended for 6 months; those already registered can continue to have their permits […]