Each Wednesday we tell you which three English-language cases and which French-language case have been the most viewed* on CanLII and we give you a small sense of what the cases are about.

For this last week:

1. Blake v. Blake, 2019 ONSC 4062

[32] As to counsel’s obligation to inform the court as to relevant authorities, two principles emerge: (1) where lawyer knows of a relevant authority, the failure of the lawyer to inform the court of that authority could be seen as an attempt to mislead the court; (2) where a lawyer does not know about authority, ignorance . . . [more]

Intellectual property licenses will have additional certainty regarding their status when recent amendments to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act come into force. Licensees may preserve rights under intellectual property license agreements, as long as they continue to perform their obligations even if the licensor goes through insolvency, bankruptcy or arrangement in various circumstances.

These changes were included in Bill C-86 Budget Implementation Act that received Royal Assent in December, 2018. These changes add to changes that were implemented in 2009 that also addressed intellectual property license agreements.

The 2009 amendments (s. 65.11(7) of the . . . [more]

An article in the real estate section of The Globe and Mail last Friday left me somewhat aghast at what appeared to be an outrageous denial of the Real Estate Council of Ontario’s (“RECO”) attempt to revoke the licence of one of its realtors. (This was no doubt what the writer, Shane Dingman, intended!) I checked out the actual Licence Appeal Tribunal (Safety, Licensing Appeals and Standards Tribunals Ontario) (“the Tribunal”) decision in Akbar Zarehhossainabadi, Kingsway Real Estate Ince. and Rouhollah Houshmand v. Registrar, Real Estate and Business Brokers Act 2002. The decision provides an informative example of how . . . [more]

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries and the Toronto Association of Law Libraries conducted a joint salary survey in 2018. The results are available on the CALL/ACBD website under Publications or from this link.

Earlier editions of a CALL/ACBD salary survey are also published and available.

My opinion: anytime you hire a law librarian you are getting plenty of expertise (most respondents had a ton of education), personal investment (lots of respondents with a ton of time with their current employer), and law librarians when compared to say, a first-year associate, don’t cost much at all (2013 average law . . . [more]

On May 17, 2019, Canada and the United States announced the settlement of the cross-border steel and aluminum trade conflict. Both countries agreed to eliminate tariffs on their cross-border trade in steel and aluminum products. Mexico and the United States also settled the issue in the same way–with the reciprocal elimination of the tariffs.

We recall that in spite of the then-ongoing NAFTA re-negotiations, the Trump Administration imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports of 25% and 10%, respectively, from Canada in June 2018. This action was pursuant to section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 on the . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Research & Writing

Use CanLII to Confirm Citations
Susannah Tredwell

At work we are frequently asked how to cite a source using the McGill Guide. While most questions are fairly easy (“how do I cite Delgamuukw?”) the McGill Guide doesn’t always have an answer, e.g. “how do I cite an unreported tribunal decision?” or “how do I cite a type of government document [that isn’t listed in McGill]?”

Practice . . . [more]

A century ago, Western civilization was still extensively using domesticated animals, specifically the horse, as one of the main means of transportation. Though domesticated for at least 6,000 years, this animal provided an invaluable means for people, goods, and services to move throughout North America, especially in inland areas away from shipping routes.

As could be expected, the common law at the time contained ample number of decisions that related to horses or incidents connected to horses. The horse was a central piece of technology that enabled civilization. Of course, all of that changed with the introduction of the Model . . . [more]

One Sunday each month we bring you a summary from Supreme Advocacy LLP of recent decisions at the Supreme Court of Canada. Supreme Advocacy LLP offers a weekly electronic newsletter, Supreme Advocacy Letter, to which you may subscribe. It’s a summary of all appeals as well as leaves to appeal granted so you will know what the SCC will soon be dealing with (June 21 to July 11, 2019 inclusive).

Appeals

Criminal Law: Complainant’s Sexual Activity
R. v. Goldfinch, 2019 SCC 38 (38270)

To be admissible, relationship evidence that implies sexual activity must satisfy requirements of s. 276 . . . [more]

Every week we present the summary of a decision handed down by a Québec court provided to us by SOQUIJ and considered to be of interest to our readers throughout Canada. SOQUIJ is attached to the Québec Department of Justice and collects, analyzes, enriches, and disseminates legal information in Québec.

TRAVAIL : L’employeur, qui exploite un restaurant, a été condamné à payer à une salariée une indemnité de 26 000 $ à titre de dommages moraux et punitifs en raison du harcèlement sexuel qu’il a exercé à son endroit; il s’agit d’un message clair envoyé par le Tribunal afin de . . . [more]

The Law Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. has released a report on the Regulation of Artificial Intelligence that looks at AI regulation and policy in jurisdictions around the world.

It was written in January and published on the Library’s website recently:

“This report examines the emerging regulatory and policy landscape surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) in jurisdictions around the world and in the European Union (EU). In addition, a survey of international organizations describes the approach that United Nations (UN) agencies and regional organizations have taken towards AI. As the regulation of AI is still in its infancy, guidelines, ethics

Parenting coordination was first developed in California in the 1980s as a response to family law cases characterized by elevated levels of conflict and repeated trips to court. The Special Master Program, as it was then known, was established to help parents resolve ongoing child-related disputes through a combination of consensus-building and decision-making, steering parents away from court and providing a more holistic, balanced alternative to the conflict and expense of adversarial court processes.

Under this program, parents were referred to mental health professionals who sought to resolve parenting disputes through mediation but, if mediation failed, were empowered to resolve . . . [more]