Monday’s Mix

Each Monday we present brief excerpts of recent posts from five of Canada’s award­-winning legal blogs chosen at random* from more than 80 recent Clawbie winners. In this way we hope to promote their work, with their permission, to as wide an audience as possible.

This week the randomly selected blogs are 1. Crossroad Family Law Blog 2. David Whelan 3. Canadian Appeals Monitor 4. BC Injury Law Blog 5. Ontario Condo Law Blog

Crossroad Family Law Blog
What does a family law legal assistant or paralegal do?

What exactly is the role of a legal assistant or paralegal in a family law firm? They only deal with scheduling meetings and answering phone calls, right? If you have retained the services of a family lawyer, you have likely communicated frequently with the lawyer’s legal assistant or paralegal. …

David Whelan
Shift the Law Library Contact Point

This post follows on from an earlier one that highlighted the gap around law libraries that unrepresented parties may not cross. I’ve been thinking a lot about whether law libraries should be focusing on reducing their footprint – especially space and staff – to shift the interaction points closer to the point of need. It’s not a value judgment nor a recommendation to reduce a library’s activities. It’s one of logistics. Is the need to access a law library a barrier to getting law library resources? …

Canadian Appeals Monitor
Old Wine into New Bottles: A Brief History and Current State of the Law on Penalty Clauses

Parties to a contract may, at the time of contracting, turn their minds to the appropriate remedy in the event of breach, and specify that remedy in their contract through a stipulated-consequence-on-breach clause. Historically, where the S-C Clause provided for a specific quantum of damages upon the occurrence of a breach, courts were reluctant to enforce the parties’ intentions. …

BC Injury Law Blog
Baseball Bat Beating Leads to $7 million Damage Assessment

In a tragic case reasons for judgement were published by the BC Supreme Court, Kamloops Registry, assessing damages in a personal injury lawsuit at nearly $7 million following a baseball bat attack. In the recent case (Simpson v. Teichrieb) the Defendant “savagely battered” the teenage plaintiff with a baseball bat leaving him with “a catastrophic brain injury, have left Jessie requiring constant care and eliminated any prospect of employability.“. …

Ontario Condo Law Blog
Never mind the ballcocks, here’s the shut-off valve

Lozano v. TSCC 1765 was one of our Top 10 cases for 2020 because it reaffirmed that a higher negligence threshold is not applicable for s.105 chargebacks.  You can read a summary of the case in our newsletter, Condo Alert!, Winter 2020.  …

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*Randomness here is created by Random.org and its list randomizing function.