Andrew Wray

The Court of Appeal for Ontario allowed the appeal of Colin Patrick Murphy, finding that the motion judge erred by compelling Murphy to testify during his own civil contempt proceedings, in violation of section 11(c) of the Charter.

The compelled testimony was improperly used to support a finding of contempt and to justify a sentence of incarceration.

The Court held that section 11(c) applies to civil contempt proceedings, including sentencing, and prohibits testimonial compulsion once contempt is alleged.

The finding of contempt for failing to produce deleted data and the sentence were set aside, and the matter was remitted for a new sentencing hearing on the admitted acts of contempt.

The Plaintiff sought summary judgment to enforce an Agreement of Purchase and Sale for a residential property, claiming breach and seeking specific performance.

The Defendant sought summary judgment to dismiss the action, arguing no agreement was reached.

The court found that the parties never had a meeting of the minds (consensus ad idem) regarding an essential term, the "renovation clause," which was ambiguous and had different interpretations by each party.

Consequently, no valid contract was formed.

The Plaintiff's motion was dismissed, the action was dismissed, and the deposit was ordered to be returned to the Plaintiff.

The court also hypothetically addressed specific performance, finding the property unique.

The plaintiff brought a wrongful dismissal action alleging he had a guaranteed five‑year fixed‑term employment contract and was dismissed after only eight months.

The employer denied any fixed‑term agreement and argued the employee resigned.

The court found that the parties formed an oral employment contract confirmed by email that did not include a five‑year guarantee, and that later documents referencing such a term were created primarily to assist the employee in obtaining mortgage financing and were unsupported by fresh consideration.

The court accepted the employee’s account that he had been dismissed during a heated confrontation rather than having resigned.

Damages were therefore limited to reasonable notice rather than the balance of a fixed term, and the court awarded two months’ notice damages.