Jan 8, 2018

Equity Rules the Day: The Supreme Court of Canada Clarifies the Tenets of Proprietary Estoppel

In December 2017, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in Cowper-Smith v. Morgan, 2017 SCC 61, a case dealing with the issue of proprietary estoppel.  While the facts of this case are borne out of circumstances relating to an estate, the law as set out by the Supreme Court can be equally applied in the context of commercial litigation in relation to promises made in a commercial context.  

Nov 21, 2017

Make a Will Month provides an annual checkup for lawyers and the public

According to a 2012 survey conducted by lawyers’ insurance company LawPRO, 56 per cent of Canadian adults do not have a signed will and 71 per cent do not have a signed power of attorney. The Ontario Bar Association hopes to tackle this issue during Make a Will Month, a public outreach campaign aimed at educating the public about the importance of executing a will and powers of attorney and informing the public about the ways in which lawyers can assist in estate planning.

Nov 20, 2017

Third Edition of the U.S. Sedona Principles and Ongoing Developments in Electronic Discovery

Last month, the Sedona Conference announced the publication (forthcoming in 2018) of the third edition of The Sedona Principles: Best Practices, Recommendations & Principles for Addressing Electronic Document Production (the “Principles”), and released a “Final/Prepublication Version”. The Principles were developed by the Sedona Conference Working Group on Electronic Document Retention and Production, and represent a set of core principles and best practice recommendations for production of electronic information in litigation. The Principles and extensive commentary to the Principles have been updated twice since their first publication in January 2004 to reflect the continuing developments in technology, the increasing proliferation of electronic documents, the practical issues encountered in litigation, as well as the developments in the law that are often driven by these very factors.

Oct 19, 2017

Government Backtracks on Anti-Surplus Stripping Proposals, and Looks to Develop Alternative Proposals

Happily, on October 19, 2017, the Federal Government announced it is not proceeding with yet another measure in its July 18 proposals (summarized here) – this time, the anti-surplus stripping proposals. Earlier in the week, the Government announced that it will (i) simplify the income sprinkling proposals and not proceed with proposed measures to limit access to the Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption (summarized here) and (ii) add a safe harbour for the proposals impacting the taxation of passive income in a private corporation (summarized here).