The winding human rights road.
The subject of this column is the very recent Schrenk decision from the British Columbia Court of Appeal. Mr. Shrenk apparently had a head injury some years ago and it made him less likely to bite his tongue- i.e. it made him unpleasantly outspoken. He was a site supervisor for Clemas Contracting, on a road […]
Dental case muddies the waters on limitation periods
This sad case involves two of the public’s least favourite professionals- dentists and lawyers. Although I try to make clear that my columns are not legal advice and no legal retainer has been created, I am hoping that my comments at the end will help people in their discussions with their litigation lawyers at the […]
Driving without insurance, a new twist
We see this offence quite often in Bruce County’ Provincial Offences Court. A decision was just released by Justice Quon on this issue- he is one of the most published of all Ontario’s Justices of the Peace. We will call this the Cordoba case, as that is the name of the fellow charged. […]
“Offences that cast a wide net- sentencing”
The Supreme Court of Canada just released a decision on Friday striking down the one year minimum sentence for drug trafficking for breaching the cruel and unusual punishment section of the Charter of Rights. The case came from BC and involved an addict selling drugs to feed his habit. The court was concerned with the […]
Cell phone privacy- the issues continue
I would like to comment on an interesting case that bisects the areas of civil law and criminal law. Further, despite Canadian’s general loathing of their cell phone carrier costs, kudos have to go out to Rogers Communications and Telus Communications in a recent Superior Court case decided by Justice Sproat. The police were trying to […]
Small Claims Court, apportionment, and net justice
As a sole practitioner who often represents terminated employees, or small owner operated companies facing wrongful dismissal claims, I find myself in Small Claims Court from time to time. Indeed, years ago, I used to sit as a Small Claims court judge several times a month for a three year term. Thus, I like to […]
Testamentary freedom versus public policy
The Ontario Court of Appeal recently had the opportunity to address the clash of values presented by testamentary freedom versus public policy. In the case of Spence v BMO Trust Co, the court was dealing with a last will of a fellow who disapproved of his daughter’s choice of a male partner. The father was […]
Law Society of Upper Canada finally deals with incriminating evidence.
Some of you may recall the various horrors of the Paul Bernardo case. One of the lesser known ones, was the criminal charge of obstruction of justice laid against his first criminal lawyer. Mr. Bernardo had told that lawyer where incriminating video evidence was in the subject house (it had been missed by the police […]
Criminal files- patience in the face of stress
In any criminal file, there will be adjournment court hearings until the Crown has given the defence lawyer “Crown disclosure.” That is a copy of the witness statements and police statements. Once that is obtained, the defence lawyer and client can meet and plan strategy and the defence lawyer can meet with the […]
Welcome to Jonathan’s Jots
I am hoping to share some ideas that I have regarding law and life. I like to inform my employee clients that whatever bad thing the employer does in the short term, that can drive the employee crazy, will likely benefit the employee in the long run from a damages point of view. […]