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.

PÉNAL (DROIT) : L’appel d’un jugement de la Cour du Québec ayant déclaré les 2 appelants coupables de voies de fait simples, de voies de fait causant des lésions corporelles et de voies de fait graves à l’endroit de 6 victimes dans le contexte d’une série d’incidents violents survenus dans . . . [more]

By Daniel Standing, LL.B., Editor at First Reference Inc.

In 2023 ONCA 364, the Court of Appeal for Ontario has written the latest chapter in an ongoing legal saga about whether the ground of discrimination of “citizenship” is distinct from the concept of “permanent residence.” In the jurisprudential sense though, it is a first chapter, since this is the first time the interpretation of discrimination in employment on the basis of citizenship has come before the Court. . . . [more]

When Everyone in the Legal World Knows Your Name

We are sure that New York lawyers Steven Schwartz and Peter LoDuca are not especially happy to have become famous by way of failing to vet the accuracy of ChatGPT which made up cases and citations that become a part of the brief they submitted to New York Federal Judge P. Kevin Castel.

The lawyers’ client, Roberto Mata, sued the airline Avianca, claiming he was injured when a metal serving cart struck his knee on a flight to Kennedy International Airport in 2019.

When Avianca requested that Judge Castel toss out . . . [more]

Dear Reader: The following column contains references to popular music of the mid-1990s. To heighten your reading experience, we recommend you familiarize yourself with the lead single from Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill album, along with the catalog of “Weird” Al Yankovic. It also would not hurt to hear Warren G’s Regulate, an anthem of the G-Funk era. But for that of Yankovic, the music referenced contains explicit lyrics and deals with mature subject matter that may not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised.

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It was the summer of 2022. Social media was abuzz.

An Alanis Morissette . . . [more]

By reviving the long-defunct “King’s Counsel” designation in his province, Ontario Attorney General Doug Downey has succeeded in taking what should have been a good news story and turning it into a scandal.  

The first hint of a possible issue was the making of the announcement by press release on Friday, June 30^th just prior to the Canada Day long weekend. This is a time to bury news, not to make news. In the parlance of the much-beloved political classic The West Wing, this practice is referred to as “take out the trash day”.

In the . . . [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.

FAILLITE ET INSOLVABILITÉ : La règle anti-privation, dont l’existence dans les provinces de common law a été confirmée par la Cour suprême du Canada dans Chandos Construction Ltd. c. Restructuration Deloitte Inc. (C.S. Can., 2020-10-02), 2020 CSC 25, SOQUIJ AZ-51712024, 2020EXP-2239, trouve également application au Québec.

Intitulé : Syndic de . . . [more]

Written by Daniel Standing LL.B., Editor, First Reference Inc.

Don’t steal. Don’t steal. Don’t steal. It’s a short but super-important mantra that every employee with access to their employer’s money (and those who don’t) should live by. 2023 BCSC 892 (CanLII) illustrates the anti-theft message in a hyperbolic way. To quickly illustrate: the opening three sentences of this article were 882 reminders short for the employee in this case. It seems she was a compulsive thief over her six-year tenure, to the tune of over $1.9 million. It’s hard to say if the defendant will ever see the money it’s . . . [more]

You might have heard of the online game, World of Warcraft. It has 8 million players in any given month. On September 13, 2005, the game became infected with a blood plague. It was started intentionally by the game designers and was to have been restricted to a particular area of the game. But somehow, it got out and in no time, was killing off everything in site, including characters that players might have spent years building up.

The game developers and members of the community attempted to slow the spread by warning other players to avoid certain areas of . . . [more]

Periodically on Thursdays, we present a significant excerpt, usually from a recently published book or journal article. In every case the proper permissions have been obtained. If you are a publisher who would like to participate in this feature, please let us know via the site’s contact form.

Reflections on Allyship

Authors: Andrea Menard x Marc Bhalla
Publisher: Shadow of the Law Publications
Publication Date: July 1, 2023
ISBN: Print (Paperback): 978-1-7780840-4-1
50 pages; 6″ x 9″; $33

*** $20 from each book sold is being donated to Moose Hide Campaign,
an Indigenous-led grassroots movement to end gender-based violence . . . [more]

So, you need a lawyer. Who are you going to call? There are more than 50,000 to choose from in Ontario. Each one is officially licensed to handle any and all legal needs, but most are not competent to help with your particular need, and an even smaller number would be ideal for you. It can be very difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff, especially if you haven’t worked with lawyers in the past.

If a would-be client is confused by the options, and doesn’t have someone knowledgeable they can ask, it would be sensible to look at . . . [more]

The Practice Directions

On June 23, 2023, the Court of King’s Bench of Manitoba (MBKB) issued its Practice Direction on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Court Submissions. Shortly thereafter, on June 26, 2023, the Supreme Court of Yukon (YKSC) issued its Practice Direction on the Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools. (As of the date of drafting this post, no other court practice directions from Canadian courts are known to the writer.)

Digressing for a moment from the subject of legal citation, one can’t help but observe that the two practice directions have been the subject of some . . . [more]