When does the limitation period start to run for the services a lawyer has performed: from the date that the retainer ends or from the date that is 30 days after the lawyer has rendered the account for the … Continue reading
Every now and then, the archaic concepts of champerty and maintenance rear their ugly heads. The last time we saw them was in the case of Clark v. Werden 2011 CarswellOnt 10331, 2011 ONCA 619. Parties Messrs. A, … Continue reading
A customer sets up systems so that, to be valid, every cheque requires the signatures of two specified signing officers. The customer ensures that it signs a banking resolution to this effect and supplies its bank with that resolution. The … Continue reading
A lawyer retains an expert on behalf of a client. Who is liable to pay the expert: the lawyer, the client, or both? This was the subject matter of 14013337 Ontario Ltd. v. MacIvor Harris Roddy LLP 2011 CarswellOnt 822 … Continue reading
The cases on limitations keep coming. Chimienti v. City of Windsor 330 D.L.R. (4th) 148 (Ont. C.A.), the latest, is interesting because it synthesises other cases. Action The plaintiff sued the police for false arrest and malicious investigation after the … Continue reading
Disgruntled parties will often take a run at a lawyer, even though they are not the lawyer’s clients, claiming that the lawyer was negligent. Some of these actions succeed (e.g. a disappointed beneficiary who failed to receive a legacy under … Continue reading
Corporate lawyers often insert an indemnification provision in their basic corporate bylaws. This indemnification provision can come back to haunt the original controlling shareholder(s). The decision in Med-Chem Health Care Ltd. v. Misir (1990) 103 O.R. (3d) 769 (C.A.) demonstrates … Continue reading
In the good old days, when we could sharpen our advocacy skills with landlord and tenant applications, we acted for a landlord who was attempting to evict a tenant for appalling behaviour. The property manager testified that the actions of … Continue reading
Lawyers may be liable to disappointed beneficiaries when the lawyers have been dilatory in drafting a will. Do lawyers have a duty of care to an attorney under a power of attorney for property or personal care for drafting the … Continue reading
Occasionally a case is decided that gives a great list of tests for torts and a good fact situation to illustrate them. Alleslev-Krofchak v. Valcom 2010 CarswellOnt 8085 (C.A.) is one such case. Facts The individual plaintiff, who had worked … Continue reading