Colin Chant
COURT OF APPEAL NARROWS SCOPE OF DEFENCES AVAILABLE TO MUNICIPALITIES IN ROAD AUTHORITY CASES
Although it has been late in coming to Southern Ontario this year, winter weather is finally upon us. As municipalities scramble to keep roads safe for winter driving conditions, they would do well to note the recent Ontario Court of Appeal decision of Giuliani v The Regional Municipality of Halton and the Town of Milton [...]
COURT OF APPEAL ESTABLISHES NEW TEST FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT
In an important decision released December 5, 2011, a five-judge panel of the Ontario Court of Appeal has clarified when summary judgment may be available to litigants. In doing so, the Court of Appeal has departed from the existing framework of summary judgment case law and established a fresh approach to the interpretation and application [...]
A WORD TO THE WISE: ADMINISTRATIVE DISMISSALS UNDER RULE 48.15
One of the main complaints raised against the Canadian justice system of late is the amount of time it takes for cases to work their way through the system. Delay has joined judicial activism, an absence of civility by counsel and skyrocketing legal fees as one of the hobgoblins bedevilling the justice system. With the [...]
OF FLIES AND FORTITUDE: COMPENSABLE PSYCHOLOGICAL INJURY IN ONTARIO
Damages for psychological injury and nervous shock have always been difficult to prove, and, when established, even more difficult to refute. Thanks to Mustapha v Culligan of Canada Ltd., and the Ontario Court of Appeal decision in Healey v Lakeridge Health Corporation the law with regards to the threshold for damages for nervous shock and [...]
HOSPITAL CHAIR COLLAPSES – WOMAN RECEIVES HIGHEST-EVER CHRONIC PAIN AWARD
Many of the claims referred to our law firm concern chronic pain claims. The medical experts tell us that while most people who sustain soft tissue injury heal uneventfully, some people do not. Somewhere between 10 to 15 percent of persons who sustain soft tissue injuries continue to experience pain long after the original injury [...]