Summaries Sunday: Maritime Law Book

Summaries of selected recent cases are provided each week to Slaw by Maritime Law Book. Every Sunday we present a precis of the latest summaries, a fuller version of which can be found on MLB-Slaw Selected Case Summaries at cases.slaw.ca.

This week’s summaries concern:
Termination of life support / Use of cell phone while driving / Disclosure of lawyer’s files:

Rasouli v. Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre et al. 2013 SCC 53
Medicine – Relation with patient – General – Non-resuscitation, termination of life support and personal directives
A hospital patient (husband) went into a permanent vegetative state following surgery to remove a benign brain tumour, and was placed on life support. His doctors sought to take him off life support and place him on end-of-life palliative care. The patient’s wife, who was his substitute decision-maker under the Health Care Consent Act (HCCA), disagreed and argued that the doctors required her consent. . . .

R. v. Pizzurro (H.) 2013 ONCA 584
Motor Vehicles – Regulation of vehicles and traffic – Manner of driving – General – Use of cell phone while driving
The accused was convicted of using a cell phone while driving contrary to s. 78.1(1) of the Highway Traffic Act. The accused appealed. The Ontario Court of Justice allowed the appeal and dismissed the charge. The Crown appealed. The Ontario Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and restored the conviction. . . .

R. v. Kazemi (K.) 2013 ONCA 585
Motor Vehicles – Regulation of vehicles and traffic – Manner of driving – General – Use of cell phone while driving
The accused was convicted of “holding” a hand-held wireless communication device while driving contrary to s. 78.1(1) of the Highway Traffic Act. The accused appealed. The Ontario Court of Justice allowed the appeal and dismissed the charge. The Crown appealed. The Ontario Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and restored the conviction….

D.A. v. L.A. 2013 NBQB 258
Barristers and Solicitors – Duty to court – Liability for costs – Failure to disclose
Parties in divorce proceedings sought disclosure of their former collaborative law process lawyers’ (the lawyers) files. The parties had waived solicitor-client privilege. The lawyers resisted disclosure on the grounds of confidentiality and privilege. The New Brunswick Court of Queen’s Bench, Family Division, ordered disclosure. [Editor’s Note: Certain names in the following case have been initialized or the case otherwise edited to prevent the disclosure of identities . . . ]