Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution Blog

In a highly anticipated decision, the Supreme Court of Canada (the “SCC”) in Barendregt v Grebliunas, 2022 SCC 22 confirmed the appropriate test for admitting additional evidence on appeal.

This decision confirms that the long-standing test set out in R.v. Palmer, [1980] 1 SCR 759, applies both to evidence that existed at the time of trial but was not adduced at that ...

Vancouver International Arbitration Centre’s (“VanIAC”) new International Commercial Arbitration Rules of Procedure (the “New Rules”) came into effect on July 1, 2022. In this post, we summarise what you need to know about the New Rules.

The New Rules are a significant update to the previous version of the international arbitration rules, which were last ...

In ES v Shillington^[1], a decision issued last month, the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench recognized the tort of Public Disclosure of Private Facts, a new cause of action that protects private information from public disclosure.^[2] Formal recognition of this tort in Alberta marks an important development in the law, giving additional legal protection to individuals’ ...

We are now several years into the “culture shift” encouraging summary dispositions rather than trials, following the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Hryniak v Mauldin.^[1] Commentary from the Alberta Court of Appeal suggests that this shift has indeed resulted in an increase in the number of cases that have been decided under the summary judgment rules in ...

This post discusses the Alberta Court of Appeal's recent decision in Hannam v. Medicine Hat School District No. 76,^[1] which stands as an emphatic reminder that the Supreme Court of Canada has directed courts to grant summary judgment when a fair and just determination can be made without a trial.

Although Hannam does not change the law of summary judgment, it conveys the ...

As courts cautiously resume in-person hearings across the country, there is looming uncertainty about when—or if—civil jury trials will ever resume. For instance, B.C. and some regions in Ontario have announced that civil jury trials are suspended until at least 2021—and Ontario is considering whether to abolish them altogether. By contrast, Alberta is allowing ...

As “baby boomers” age, their families are left to confront a myriad of medical, social, practical and legal issues that can arise in providing ongoing care and support. Poor health, limited finances and, frequently, varying degrees of mental incompetence can make this task emotionally and legally difficult. Add in strained intra-family relationships and the ...

More often than not, sequels can’t live up to the original.  Case in point: Jaws 2.  But this blog post sequel aims to be better, like The Dark Knight.

In Part I of this blog post, we looked at the basic facts of Weaver v. Ball. The case involved two well-known scholars, Dr. Andrew Weaver and Dr. Timothy Ball, who have diametrically opposing viewpoints regarding climate change. In ...

When is a question not “legal” enough for a court to weigh in? The Federal Court of Appeal recently weighed in on this question in Canada (Attorney General) v. Democracy Watch, 2020 FCA 69, overturning the Federal Court on exactly this issue. The two courts’ decisions illustrate the difficulty in deciding what is and is not fair game for judicial review, and the ...

After the initial phase of suspension of non-urgent hearings due to the COVID-19 pandemic, courts in British Columbia have started to move towards alternative ways to resume the operation of the justice system. With the increasing prevalence of remote communication options, courts have developed procedures to conduct hearings remotely using video or ...