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:
Civil Rights – Barristers and Solicitors – Medicine – Professional Occupations – Criminal Law – Crown – Damage Awards – Quebec Responsibility – Evidence – Contracts – Insurance – Practice – Administrative Law – Education

Wong v. Grant Mitchell Law Corp. et al. 2015 MBQB 88
Barristers and Solicitors – Medicine – Professional Occupations
Summary: The plaintiff sued a law firm, alleging that his lawyers did not provide him with appropriate advice with respect to a limitation period such that he lost his opportunity to sue a psychologist for breach of duty of disclosure. The Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench held that the plaintiff’s underlying action against the psychologist would have been unsuccessful. However, the defendant lawyers failed in their duty respecting limitation periods. The court awarded nominal …

Hinse v. Canada (Attorney General) 2015 SCC 35
Criminal Law – Crown – Damage Awards – Quebec Responsibility

Summary: In 1964, Hinse was wrongly convicted of armed robbery. In 1997, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously acquitted Hinse. Hinse instituted an action for an order for solidary payment against the Attorney General of Quebec (AGQ), the Attorney General of Canada (AGC) and the town of Mont-Laurier. Under out-of-court settlements, the town of Mont-Laurier and the AGQ paid Hinse a total of $5,550,000 in compensation for this miscarriage of justice. According …

R. v. Nguyen (B.Q.) et al. 2015 ONCA 278
Civil Rights – Evidence
Summary: A man was shot and killed in a bar. The shooter was never identified. Bao Quoc Nguyen (Bao) and Kien Binh Tu (Binh) were convicted of first degree murder. Bao Tri Nguyen (Tri) was found guilty as an accessory after the fact to murder. As part of its case at trial, the Crown called as witnesses the common law spouses of both Bao and Tri. The Crown also led evidence of certain out-of-court statements made by …

Ledcor Construction Ltd. v. Northbridge Indemnity Insurance Co. et al. 2015 ABCA 121
Contracts – Evidence – Insurance – Practice
Summary: Station Lands Ltd. (owner) retained Ledcor Construction Ltd. as construction manager to co-ordinate construction of the EPCOR Tower in Edmonton. Station Lands obtained an “all risks” insurance policy from the defendant insurers, covering all “direct physical loss or damage except as hereinafter provided”. The policy contained certain exclusions, including clause 4(A)(b) which provided that the policy did not insure “(b) The cost of making good faulty workmanship, construction materials or design unless physical …

Citizens for Accountable and Responsible Education Niagara Inc. et al. v. District School Board of Niagara 2015 ONSC 2058
Administrative Law – Education
Summary: The applicants, Citizens for Accountable and Responsible Education Niagara Inc. (CARE), represented members of the Niagara-on-the-Lake community who actively opposed the closing of Parliament Oak School (the school). The applicants applied for judicial review of the decision of the respondent School Board to close the school. They asserted procedural unfairness and appearance of bias. The Ontario Divisional Court dismissed the application.