• Posts by Peter J. Roberts, KC
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    Peter is a litigator with a wide range of experience, practising for over 30 years in Vancouver. For a number of years he practised criminal law before resuming civil and commercial litigation, including claims involving ...

Posted in Commercial

This is a vexing question. It generally arises when a rogue has made off with money or assets having perpetrated a fraud and has left behind two or more equally innocent victims. As between those victims, who should bear the loss?

Earlier this week, the Alberta Court of Appeal weighed in on just such a case. The short answer is that the court will look to the statutory rights of the ...

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In the recent case of Carter v. Canada, the Supreme Court of Canada declared invalid the Criminal Code prohibitions against physician-assisted suicide.  Those provisions made it a crime for a person to “consent to have death inflicted on him” (s. 14) and to “aid or abet a person to commit suicide” (s.241(b)).  The SCC found this blanket prohibition was a breach of the ...

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Posted in Commercial

A promissory note is a written promise by a borrower to pay a sum of money to a lender upon the occurrence of an event, usually a demand for payment.  Promissory notes are often used by friends and family members to record loans made between them.  No one expects there to be problems at the outset and all are sure the loan will be repaid at some point.  But how long do promissory notes ...

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Regrettably, this appears to be a case where the office of the Director of Civil Forfeiture has taken zealous measures outside the proper bounds of its home statute with the unfortunate effect of depriving a citizen of lawful possession and use of her property, putting that citizen to what I suspect is considerable expense and inconvenience to retrieve her property.

Those ...

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Posted in Commercial

It is common for contracts to contain exclusion clauses limiting the liability of one party in the event of a breach.  Professional service providers often seek to limit their liability to the fees paid to them.  Movers limit their exposure to the value of the goods transported.  Contracts for the sale of land generally cap a purchaser’s remedy for breach to the return of the ...

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Posted in Civil Procedure

British Columbia has 28 Supreme Court registries scattered around the eight judicial districts (known as “counties”) being Cariboo, Kootenay, Nanaimo, Prince Rupert, Vancouver, Victoria, Westminster and Yale.  Ordinarily, a civil claim or petition can be commenced in whichever of those registries the claimant chooses.  However, for some types of claims there are ...

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Posted in Civil Procedure

One of the most exasperating aspects of civil litigation for clients is the issue of court ordered costs. Ordinarily, the party that wins a case is entitled to have their “costs” paid by the other side. The court’s ability to award costs is discretionary and, as a result, often difficult to predict.

There are, generally speaking, two types of costs awards: “party and ...

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Posted in Real Estate

Most commercial leases contain terms that require tenants to pay additional rent. Additional rent is usually a share of the costs and charges incurred to operate the property. These costs can include municipal taxes, insurance premiums, repair and maintenance costs and common area utility charges. In any given year, these charges change and fluctuate.  Landlords often ...

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Posted in Real Estate

Governing and managing a strata property can be messy and difficult. Strata owners are generally a disparate group with little in common beyond ownership in the strata. From among this group, a strata council must be elected, usually all volunteers who, to one degree or another, are reluctant participants and untrained in strata governance. Yet, it is the members of the ...

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Likely because the application of the law is uncertain, commercial leases generally have detailed clauses dealing with the question of when a piece of equipment or an improvement installed in a premises becomes a fixture or remains a chattel.  The answer matters as fixtures, in law, are considered to be part of the land and, at the end of a lease, ordinarily would revert to the ...

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This blog is authored by members of the Litigation and Dispute Resolution Department. We follow new and interesting issues emerging in the legal and business communities. The wide range of experience among the members of our litigation group will provide a diverse and insightful examination of current legal trends and topics. Our goal is to provide a source of valuable information and insight on a wide variety of matters for our readers.

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