Civil Litigation
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June 17, 2025
The importance of a well-drafted confidentiality clause, and the dangers of AI
A recent US$3.1-million award by a Florida jury in favour of Pliteq, Inc. (Pliteq, Inc. v. Mostafa, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 60316), a Canadian international engineering services and manufacturing enterprise, against a high-ranking Dubai-based employee who stole trade secrets demonstrates that — despite cross-border tensions — Donald Trump’s America may still be a favourable place for Canadian businesses to seek and obtain justice.
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June 16, 2025
Canadian IP Office advances online tools, cuts application backlog: report
The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) has tabled its 2023–2024 annual report in Parliament noting progress it made in that fiscal year, including developing over 200 online intellectual property (IP) tools.
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June 16, 2025
Insurance Bureau says unchecked increase in litigation funding could drive up insurance costs
The Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) is calling for restrictions on litigation funding on the basis that it is being used as an investment tool that uses the court system to generate profits for large financial firms.
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June 16, 2025
Privacy watchdog: Vending machine cameras at University of Waterloo breached privacy law
The University of Waterloo violated the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) by using smart vending machines on campus that captured users’ facial images without consent or proper notice, the Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) has ruled.
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June 16, 2025
Ontario judge allows health services board to intervene in private clinic's $290K repayment appeal
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has allowed the Health Services Appeal and Review Board to intervene in an appeal of its own decision requiring a private health facility to repay more than $290,000 to the Ministry of Health.
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June 16, 2025
Appeal Court remedies unfair marriage agreement
In Bradley v. Callahan, 2025 BCCA 69, the parties’ September 1997 marriage agreement, some 35 pages, executed two days before their marriage, became the subject of intense litigation when their marriage ended in 2014, culminating in a 40-day trial and an appeal to British Columbia’s Court of Appeal in 2024.
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June 16, 2025
Horror of provincial jails in Canada
Much to my surprise, on my first day in a provincial jail after my arrest, the two prisoners with whom I shared a cell (I slept on the floor with my head by the toilet) both told me that the conditions in this jail were much worse than in the federal prisons where they had served time.
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June 16, 2025
POWERS OF MUNICIPALITY - Types of authority - Legislative - Special statutes - Expropriation
Appeal by appellant from orders of chambers justice regarding the extension of time to vacate a property following expropriation by the respondent.
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June 13, 2025
SCC rules admissibility of Crown-led ‘sexual inactivity’ evidence must be decided in a voir dire
Holding 9-0 that evidence of a complainant’s “sexual inactivity” forms part of their “sexual history” — and is therefore presumptively inadmissible at trial — the Supreme Court of Canada has also clarified that the common law screening procedure for Crown‑led sexual history evidence “should mirror” the s. 276 Criminal Code regime that applies in a voir dire for defence-led sexual history evidence.
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June 13, 2025
Alberta court orders Nova to pay Dow $1.62B more in ethylene dispute
The Alberta Court of King’s Bench has ordered Nova Chemicals to pay damages of $1.62 billion to Dow in addition to a previous payment of $1.43 billion for losses related to the companies’ jointly owned ethylene plant in Joffre, Alta.