Larry Andrade

The appellants, defendants in a proposed class action arising from the 2022 Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa, appealed the dismissal of their anti-SLAPP motion under s. 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act.

The Court of Appeal upheld the motion judge's decision, finding no reversible error in his conclusions that there were grounds to believe the plaintiffs' claims for private and public nuisance had substantial merit, that the defendants had no valid defence, and that the public interest in permitting the proceeding to continue outweighed the public interest in protecting the defendants' expression.

The appeal was dismissed.

The plaintiff developer entered into agreements of purchase and sale with the defendant for commercial properties, which included a mutual lease condition for a leaseback arrangement.

As the condition deadline approached, the defendant assured the plaintiff it would continue negotiating the leases but secretly sought board approval to sell the properties to a third party.

The defendant then terminated the agreements.

The court found the defendant breached its duty of good faith and honest performance, and was liable for negligent misrepresentation.

Applying promissory estoppel, the court held the defendant could not rely on its strict contractual rights to terminate.

The plaintiff was awarded $15.5 million in damages for lost profits.

The plaintiff, a 54-year-old investment advisor with 24 years of service, was dismissed without cause.

During discovery, the defendant learned the plaintiff had copied confidential client emails to a personal USB key and alleged after-acquired cause.

The court found the misconduct was a lapse in judgment that did not warrant dismissal.

The court awarded a 24-month notice period and damages for lost commissions.

However, the court dismissed the plaintiff's claims for damages for the lost opportunity to sell her book of business, finding she failed to prove she would have retired and sold it during the notice period, and dismissed her claim for bad faith damages.

The applicant tenant, operating a supermarket, sought a declaration and permanent injunction to prevent the respondent landlord from constructing a new LCBO building on the shopping center's parking lot.

The applicant argued the construction would eliminate parking spots and alter access, breaching its proprietary rights under a 1971 lease as amended.

The court found the lease granted the applicant a proprietary interest in the parking area and minimum parking spots.

The court rejected the landlord's arguments based on estoppel and delay.

Concluding that damages would be an inadequate remedy for the prospective breach of a proprietary right, the court granted the declaration and a permanent injunction prohibiting the construction.

The applicant sought leave to appeal an arbitrator's award that dismissed its claim for $19.7 million and allowed the respondent's counterclaim for $1,048,351.93 arising from a terminated construction contract.

The applicant alleged the arbitrator made 524 categorical errors of law in interpreting the contract.

The court dismissed the application, finding that the alleged errors were questions of mixed fact and law regarding the arbitrator's use of the factual matrix and subsequent conduct to determine if the contract was breached, and that the applicant failed to identify any extricable errors of pure law.

This is the damages phase of a multi-party action brought by 28 former patients of the Oak Ridge Division of the Penetanguishene Mental Health Centre.

In the liability phase, the defendants (two psychiatrists and the Crown) were found liable for breach of fiduciary duty and battery for subjecting the plaintiffs to experimental and harmful psychiatric programs (DDT, Capsule, and MAPP) between the 1960s and 1980s.

The court assessed general, punitive, and income loss damages on an individual basis.

General damages were awarded to all plaintiffs, ranging from nominal amounts to over $2 million for the most severely impacted.

Punitive damages were awarded in cases involving particularly egregious conduct, such as the treatment of underage patients or the administration of alcohol to known alcoholics.

Income loss claims were largely limited or barred by the ex turpi causa doctrine, which prevented recovery for periods the plaintiffs spent lawfully incarcerated or institutionalized for subsequent criminal offenses.

In a medical negligence trial arising from elective refractive eye surgery, the court found the defendant ophthalmologist failed to obtain informed consent and breached the standard of care in performing RK surgeries with an excessively small clear zone, incisions extending into the limbus, and a later astigmatic keratectomy involving intersecting incisions.

The court accepted that these negligent procedures caused progressive corneal instability, irregular astigmatism, scarring, glare, fluctuating vision, and loss of depth perception that prevented the plaintiff from continuing to practise dentistry.

A later cataract surgery was found to meet the standard of care and did not materially contribute to the disability.

The court rejected arguments on mitigation, punitive damages, and deduction of privately purchased disability benefits, and awarded substantial damages including income loss, general damages, special damages, OHIP subrogation, and a Family Law Act award.

The representative plaintiff brought a class action against the defendants for charging illegal fees and imposing expiry dates on prepaid payment cards, alleging violations of the Consumer Protection Act, 2002 and O. Reg. 17/05.

The court found that the defendants' Single Load Prepaid (SLP) cards were 'open loop gift cards' subject to the legislation, while their General Purpose Reloadable (GPR) cards were exempt as financial products.

The court granted summary judgment for the SLP cardholders, awarding $15,330,000 in aggregate damages for unlawful fees and seized balances, plus $1,500,000 in punitive damages for the defendants' intentional disregard of consumer protection laws.