On September 6, 2012, Kyle Maclean was asked to pay a $20 cover charge to get into his local bar, the Barking Frog in London, Ontario, while his female companions were asked to pay only $10 that evening. This struck Mr. Maclean as unfair and last year he made an application to the Human Rights […]
In the recent case of Fernandes v. Penncorp, 2013 ONSC 1637, Justice Hambly for the Ontario Superior Court of Justice found the defendant insurance company liable for over $500,000 in damages flowing from a breach of contract and failure to pay a long-term disability benefits claim. This case involved a plaintiff who contracted with Penncorp […]
The Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure is thick and voluminous. The better one knows the rules, the better one will be at advancing or defending a civil proceeding. The more lawyers or lay people work with the Rules, the more they will become familiar with the major ones governing civil proceedings, such as those governing […]
A recent decision from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Chisolm Place Housing Co-operative Inc. v. Hickox, 2013 ONSC 2215, has affirmed that housing co-operatives must be transparent, fair and reasonable when seeking to terminate the membership and occupancy rights of co-op members. Housing co-operatives are unique, and governed by special legislation pertaining to co-operative […]
Employees who are terminated or constructively dismissed by their employers must give serious consideration to offers of re-employment following termination. This was illustrated in a recent case from the Ontario Court of Appeal, Chevalier v. Active Tire & Auto Centre Inc., 2013 ONCA 548, where the Court held that the dismissed employee was not entitled […]
In May 2013, the Ontario Court of Appeal handed down a decision in Boyce v. The Co-Operators General Insurance Company, 2013 ONCA 298,which clarifies when a party can contract out of the limitation periods set by law. Generally, in civil litigation, a litigant has two years from when the claim was discovered within which to […]
In Ontario, not all employees are entitled to overtime pay. While the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 (the “Act”) requires that an employer pay an employee overtime pay of at least 1.5 times his or her regular rate for each hour in excess of 44 hours per work week, the Exemptions, Special Rules and Establishment […]
In a recent article, the Toronto Star reported the story of a man who worked in a Texas car dealership where he was repeatedly Tasered while at work for no apparent reason (except possibly the misguided amusement of his co-workers). Needless to say, repeatedly Tasering a co-worker raises a host of legal issues. This particular […]
In a decision released on September 4, 2013, the Ontario Court of Appeal granted the Crown’s appeal from the sentence imposed in R. v. Metroni against a corporate defendant charged with criminal negligence causing death. The Court of Appeal increased the fine imposed at trial from $200,000 to $750,000. This case stemmed from the deaths […]
In September 2013, Justice Grace of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice awarded a plaintiff in a wrongful dismissal case $20,000 in damages for breach of the Ontario Human Rights Code. This appears to the be first ever decision under s. 46.1 of the Code, which permits courts to award damages for violations of Code […]
