Civil Litigation
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October 28, 2025
Estate trustee during litigation: The power to make payments from residue of estate
In Ontario, an estate trustee during litigation (ETDL) does not have the power to distribute the residue of an estate, despite having all the rights and powers of a general administrator: see s. 28 of the Estates Act. However, this rule does not mean that an ETDL cannot make payments from the residue of an estate.
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October 28, 2025
Bill C-223 and parental alienation: Trust the judges, not the politicians
Bill C-223, recently introduced as a private member’s bill by backbench Liberal MP Lisa Hepfner, would substantially amend the parenting provisions of the Divorce Act, and in our view harm the interests of children and parents.
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October 27, 2025
Canada to amend Labour Code, launch new tax credit and expand union training
Canada has announced new measures included in Budget 2025, including expanding the Union Training and Innovation Program, introducing a temporary five-year Personal Support Workers Tax Credit, amending the Canada Labour Code to restrict the use of non-compete agreements and investing $97 million over five years to create a Foreign Credential Recognition Action Fund.
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October 27, 2025
Court issues fine in contempt case for social media videos
The Federal Court has issued a fine to a gym owner in a case of contempt where he posted social media videos conveying confidential information from a mediation.
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October 27, 2025
Recommendations for ethical, effective AI use in family law online dispute resolution, part three
Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming the landscape of dispute resolution, offering new tools to enhance efficiency, accessibility and consistency. In family law, where disputes are often emotionally charged and deeply personal, the integration of AI into online dispute resolution (ODR) presents both extraordinary promise and significant ethical challenges.
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October 27, 2025
What is ‘legal advice’ and why is it different than other advice?
How do we determine whether legal advice is good or bad? Outside of basic competence issues (missing statutory deadlines, for example), is there a difference between good advice, good legal advice, bad advice or bad legal advice?
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October 24, 2025
Federal Court upholds dog import ban from certain countries, rejects procedural challenge
The Federal Court has upheld federal orders banning the import of commercial dogs from high-risk countries over rabies concerns, finding the government acted reasonably and owed no procedural fairness to animal rescue organizations opposing the ban.
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October 24, 2025
Court upholds class action over CBSA’s placement of immigration detainees in prisons
The Ontario Court of Appeal has upheld a class action certification of a case alleging that the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) unlawfully placed thousands of immigration detainees in provincial prisons instead of immigration holding centres (IHCs), despite them not being tried for any criminal offence.
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October 24, 2025
AI: Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer
Martin is a lawyer who has closed many residential real estate transactions. Back when he was starting out, Martin read the relevant statutes and regulations and prepared all the documents himself. For each transaction, Martin drafted a Statement of Adjustments, adding numbers in his head. Eventually he used a calculator, and then a software program. Then, he hired a law clerk and taught her how to do it.
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October 23, 2025
Court affirms narrow interpretation of leave requirement in certification orders
The Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled that leave provisions in two mutual-fund class action certification orders did not bar new investor class actions, finding the requirement to seek court permission applied only to existing class members, not unrelated plaintiffs.