In what appears to have been a longstanding battle between Coseco Insurance Company and one of its insureds, Mr. Justice John Macdonald has released an important decision on the issue of litigation privilege. He dismissed the insurer’s appeal from a master’s…
Burns Estate v. Falloon addressed an issue that was raised at the recent Montebello Civil Litigation conference: on a motion for approval of the settlement of a claim by a person under a disability, is the defence entitled to be served with unexpurgated…
In what is apparently the first case to consider the issue, Master R. Dash has held that communications passing between a paralegal and his client were privileged from production in a civil action. The case is an interesting one, partly…
UPDATE: We have learned that the plaintiffs have sought leave to appeal Justice Power’s decision. We will report the outcome of that motion, which is to be heard on July 20, 2007. It is our understanding that the main (although not the…
Back in January, we posted a commentary about the Divisional Court’s decision in Smith v. London Life. The case dealt with production of an insurer’s file in a first party claim that was based on allegations of bad faith on…
It is well-established that solicitor-client privilege will be lost where the communication between lawyer and client is in furtherance of a crime. In Dublin v. Montessori Jewish Day School of Toronto, Mr. Justice Paul Perell ruled that the same result follows…
In Smith v. London Life Insurance Company, the Divisional Court reversed an order made by Superior Court Justice Gordon Thomson, who had directed the defendant London Life to produce “its entire claims file arising from a prior action between the parties, including…
In an interesting decision, just released, Mr. Justice De Lotbinière Panet dismissed a third party claim brought by a defendant against an engineering firm which had provided a report to the plaintiff. Vie Holdings Inc. v. Imperial Oil Limited was…
A three-member panel of the Court of Appeal today reversed a July decision of a single judge of that court. The earlier decision of Gillese J.A. was the subject of a previous posting in our blawg (“C.A. Takes Expansive View…
UPDATE: This decision was reversed by a 3-member panel of the Court of Appeal on September 20, 2006. See our post. Justice Gillese of the Ontario Court of Appeal yesterday released a ruling that will be of importance to all civil…