Category: In the News

Author: Ryan Alkenbrack “Tort Law” is a broad category of law that includes the majority of civil lawsuits in Ontario. Types of cases that fall into this category include intentional torts such as assault, battery, or false imprisonment, and negligence-based torts, such as personal injury that results unintentionally in a motor vehicle collision, a slip and fall on an icy sidewalk, or a dog attack. This area of law is concerned with compensating victims of wrongdoing and is distinct from

In Ontario, we have the Superior Court of Justice that hears all types of cases. One of the most common cases in the Superior Court of Justice involve injuries suffered by innocent people by negligent and careless drivers. However, when an innocently injured person seeks to be compensated for what was negligently taken from them, they are in for a shock. In Ontario, if a negligent driver causes a serious injury to an innocent person and that injured person cannot

As I write this, Ontario is in the midst of a third wave of the Covid-19 virus – this time with more contagious variants that are infecting younger people. Ontario is working on getting vaccines into arms but this takes time and vaccines. On April 7, 2021, the Ontario Government declared a third state of emergency and a Stay-At-Home order along with strict lockdown restrictions. What does this have to do with civil jury trials? Over the past 14 months,

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Most of us recognize this well-known song from the iconic movie, The Wizard of Oz, but have you ever taken a moment to think about what happens when animals cause personal injuries. Who is responsible? The difference between wild and domesticated animal attacks.  First, we need to separate domesticated animals from wild or inherently dangerous animals. The law treats keepers and owners of domestic animals differently than those who keep or harbour wild animals. Under the scienter common law doctrine (rule), the

Most people are familiar with the term “statute of limitations”, but what does it mean? The concept is that after a certain period of time following an event, incident, breach of contract, medical malpractice, injury, accident or collision there is a limited period of time within which a person can bring a legal claim. Civil claims are provincial matters. In Ontario, the deadline to bring a legal action is governed by the Limitations Act, 2002. The basic limitation period in Ontario

Two stories in the news last week highlight the broken nature of the automobile insurance system in Ontario. The first story was about Intact Financial, the second largest provider of auto insurance in Ontario. Intact Financial reported an increase in operating income for Q4 in 2020 of 54 percent. This translates to a rise in operating income to the tune of $467 million. For the entire year of 2020, Intact reported profits of more than $1 billion – that is with a