Michael’s Law Firm Blog

How to Get the Most out of an Initial Consultation with a Lawyer If you’re contemplating legal action, have been sued, are unsure of your legal standing in a particular situation, or need advice on an issue that has potential legal ramifications, your first port of call should be to seek proper legal advice from a lawyer. You probably have questions at this point, like: Why seek a lawyer’s advice? [...]

Construction and renovation expenses can be substantial, often in excess of $100,000.00. While many projects go smoothly, others do not. Contractors (or subcontractors) can fail to build to specification, damage other property, fail to finish work or produce defective work. After a payment dispute, property may be liened and lawsuits brought pursuant to the Construction Act. That begs the question as to how owners can best protect themselves? The first [...]

A PDF record with the above characteristics can be assembled via the following steps (without an Acrobat subscription): Draft your document in MS Word. Add hyperlinks to certain words (i.e. cases - for external citation) by selecting the desired text, and hitting (“Ctrl” and “K”), and then inserting the link as appropriate. I recommend against using page numbering at this stage. When finished, save the document as a pdf file. [...]

Although operating to only a limited extent, our courts are surprising well equipped (procedurally) for most litigation to continue remotely. For instance, with regards to Discoveries: “[E]xaminations of witnesses by video conferencing are a normal process in modern international litigation as opined by Neubold J. in Midland, and even more so in the seven years that have passed since that decision in 2009.” Alves v. Gaughran, 2016 ONSC 5645 (CanLII). [...]

Greatly simplified, many legal claims come down to two concepts, liability (responsibility) and damages. Liability is generally focused upon how the event occurred, and whether someone else is legally responsible (for any resulting loss). Examples include who was responsible for causing an accident, whether a party breached a contract or whether a loss is covered by an insurance policy. Damages in turn addresses the question of how much compensation a [...]

Frequently, I am contacted by potential clients who are seeking to hire me to represent them in small claims matters. While I am of course happy to represent them throughout, in most cases, I tell them it makes financial sense to consult with me for only a few hours, and to handle most of the claim themselves. Here’s why: The small claims process is relatively simple For those bringing a [...]

Recently, in Bielanski v. Mundenchira, 2019 ONSC 1162 (CanLII), the Court addressed the issue of solicitor’s negligence (legal malpractice) arising out of a real estate transaction. In that case, issues arose after the initial owner (Bielanski) sought to divide his Mississauga property into two lots, subsequently severing and selling the lot to the purchaser Mundenchira in 2005. Mundenchira, a realtor and real estate investor, retained the lawyer Goswami to close [...]