Michael’s Law Firm Blog
Summary Judgment – The Emergence of Case Management
Summary judgment can be an effective tool to dispose of legal claims and defences without the cost, delay and expense of a formal trial. Unfortunately, Ontario’s courts have struggled to adopt and retain a coherent summary judgment standard since the current iteration of Rule 20 was adopted in 2010. Subsequently, the courts first adopted the ‘full appreciation test’ from Combined Air Mechanical Services Inc. v. Flesch, 2011 ONCA 764. This [...]
Limitations Extended Where A Dentist Denied Fault and Continued Work
In Chelli-Greco v. Rizk, 2016 ONCA 489, the Court of Appeal upheld a Judge's ruling that Cheli-Greco's claim was not discovered until after she terminated her relationship with Dr. Rizk, such that her claim was not statute barred. In that case, Dr. Rizk was Chelli-Greco's dentist from 2005 until October 2012. On September 21, 2011, Chelli-Greco complained to Dr. Rizk about the bridge he had installed, demanded her money back [...]
Challenging Expert Business Valuations At Trial
Where the value of a business is disputed at trial, work should start at discovery (if not before) to determine the facts upon which an opposing expert will base his/her valuation, and the reasons used therein in support of such business valuation. The final business valuation (expert report) should then be thoroughly parsed, to determine whether such ‘expert’ has used creative license to arrive at a particular conclusion, either increasing [...]
Continued Medical Treatment Triggers Discoverability Principal
In a significant decision, the Court of Appeals held that the limitations period was tolled (or that the discoverability principal applied) where a patient suffered severe complications after surgery, but the doctor continued to treat to correct the complications. In Brown v. Baum, 2016 ONCA 325, Diana Brown suffered complications after breast reduction surgery performed by Dr. Baum on March 25, 2009. Her wounds had opened up by the day [...]
Discoverability Doctrine Extends Statute of Limitations in Professional Negligence
Recently, in Clarke v. Faust, 2016 ONCA 223 the Ontario Court of Appeal was asked to determine whether a claim of professional negligence was statute barred, where it was not brought within two years of the plaintiff having knowledge of the claim. After a thorough analysis, the Court held that as a result of the discoverability principle, the professional negligence claim should be allowed to proceed. The Underlying Car Accident [...]
$1.3 M Reasons Not to Trust an Insurance Denial
When D.C. required an expensive drug (Solaris – costing around $25,000.00 per month) she turned to her group benefits carrier, Industrial Alliance (IA) for coverage. Her IA policy provided for reimbursement of 90% of certain drug costs. However, Industrial Alliance denied coverage, initially relying on an inapplicable policy exclusion. D.C. then submitted her claim to her husband’s benefits carrier Great West Life (which provided benefits for employees of Arcelormittal Dofasco), [...]
BigLaw Tax Advice Contributes to Significant Adverse Judgment
When Ahmed Baig decided to purchase and flip a commercial building that was under receivership, he turned to BigLaw for help. He retained Peter Kiborn, then a partner at Miller Thomson LLP to handle the transaction on his behalf. As part of that retainer, Mr. Kiborn provided advice concerning Baig's obligations to pay land transfer tax. That advice would later play a significant role in Justice Myers decision that Mr. [...]
Success in Ontario Court – Judgment Obtained after Defendant’s Defences Struck
Recently, Michael Lesage successfully obtained a default judgment for his client after having the defendant’s defences stricken. In the commercial litigation that had been ongoing for approximately two years, several Orders had been made against the defendant, with which he made no effort to comply. In the face of such non-compliance, I moved to have his defences stricken, which after hearing (and further non-compliance) the Ontario Court granted. The authority [...]
Insurer Ordered to Provide Coverage in Ontario Title Insurance Lawsuit
A Toronto homeowner was recently awarded coverage against hidden structural defects in home 7 years after purchase. This just goes to show that when buying a property, it is often a good idea to purchase property title insurance for protection against unknown risks or problems. This was aptly illustrated in the recent case of MacDonald v. Chicago Title Insurance Company of Canada, 2015 ONCA 842 (CanLII). In that case, Paul [...]
Ruling from an Underinsured Motorist Coverage Case
Court Reaffirms UM Coverage Unavailable Until Tort Limits Exhausted Recently, in Kovacevic v ING Insurance, 2015 ONSC 3415 (CanLII) the Court was asked to determine whether underinsured motorist coverage was available (from the Kovacevics insurer, ING Insurance) where the Kovacevics settled their liability claim with the at-fault vehicle owner for $300,000.00, which was less than his available policy limits of $1,000,000.00. The underlying Kovacevic action arose after the Kovacevics were [...]