Emoji = Liable
Be careful about how you use emojis. In a recent Saskatchewan case a farm corporation was held liable to pay about $82,000 for flax ordered from a grain company because the defendant had replied with a thumbs up emoji … … to an text fixing the amount and price. This was considered sufficient to establish […]
Song Xue’s “Top Tips to Avoid Litigation”
Song Xue of Harper Grey LLP privides his “Top Tips to Avoid Litigation”. I give you the list below, but the article is worth reading in full if you don’t want to be involved in a court case that you could have avoided. Create Clear Agreements – In Writing Read the Agreement – Carefully! Consider […]
The lie of fairness
“… never fear, a workplace investigation will to get to the bottom of these allegations. Yes, that’s right, a fair and impartial investigation. Your Spidey sense tingles, and you fear this is all a charade, a scam intended to railroad and bully you into leaving the company. You are likely correct. Be afraid, be very […]
If you think “rent” and “buy” mean different things …
… Apple thinks that you are not a reasonable person. In fact, Apple takes the position — in court, no less — that no reasonable person would think that. “Apple sued for terminating account with $25,000 worth of apps and videos” “Lawsuits claim people don’t truly own content they purchase on digital platforms.”
Termination clauses in employment contracts: dead?
Last year, the Ontario Court of Appeal [ONCA] in a case called Waksdale v Swegon North America Inc. [“Waksdale“] said that a termination clause in an employment contract must be looked at in its entirety, and so invalid clauses can invalidate valid clauses, even where they are separate and governed by a severance clause. The […]
Pre-Incorporation Contracts
On October 23, 2020 the Supreme Court of Canada in Owners, Strata Plan LMS 3905 v. Crystal Square Parking Corp. 2020 SCC 29 clarified the law on whether or not a corporation is bound by a contract made for it before it was incorporated. Generally, a corporation isn’t bound by a pre-incorporation contract. However, once […]
The London Chamber of Commerce’s info on the new shutdown
[Quoted in full, below.] Ontario Announces Provincewide Shutdown Commencing December 26th. Government Providing Grants of up to $20,000 to Small Business Impacted by New Public Health Measures As COVID-19 cases continue to rise at an alarming rate, the Ontario government, in consultation with the Chief Medical Officer of Health and other health experts, is imposing […]
The death of fax
Lawyers have been one of the last holdouts using fax machines. Part of that was simply the Rules of Civil Procedure, which made very specific provision for service by fax, and a fax confirmation sheet was good enough for the court that something had indeed been sent. Service by email, however, used to require a […]
Gifting a corporation from a personal will
Brian N. Radnoff and Sahar Cadili of Dickinson Wright draw our attention to an interesting Ontario Court of Appeal case which changes how corporations and their assets can be transferred by a Will by their shareholder. The law in some other provinces (and, until Trezzi, arguably the law in Ontario) states that a sole shareholder […]
“Ontario Lifting Suspension Of Lien Periods”
Robert Farmer, Andrew J. Skinner and Stewart J. Wallace of Dickinson Wright provide a very useful short summary of the lifting of the suspension of certain lien periods under the Construction Act (formerly the Construction Lien Act). “One of the perhaps unintended consequences of this order was the suspension of the deadline for suppliers of goods […]
