Guy J. Pratte

A consulting firm contracted with a manufacturing company to implement an integrated management system, including a limitation of liability clause that had been freely negotiated between sophisticated commercial parties.

When the system implementation failed, the lower courts declared the non-liability clause inoperative on the basis of the doctrine of breach of a fundamental obligation in Quebec civil law.

The Supreme Court allowed the appeal, holding that neither of the two possible legal bases for the doctrine — public order or absence of an objective cause of the obligation — applied to render the clause inoperative in a contract by mutual agreement between sophisticated legal persons.

The Court confirmed that the Civil Code of Québec limits the doctrine of breach of a fundamental obligation to consumer contracts and contracts of adhesion under art. 1437 C.C.Q., and that the legislature deliberately chose not to extend such a mandatory rule to freely negotiated commercial contracts.

The clause did not deprive the debtor's obligation of its objective cause because specific performance and agreed damages remained available as sanctions for nonperformance.

A copyright collective society sought to enforce an interim tariff against a university that had refused to continue as a licensee, while the university counterclaimed for a declaration that its fair dealing guidelines protected its copying activities.

The Court held that Board-approved tariffs are not mandatory against users who choose not to be licensed, as the relevant statutory provision only gives a collective society the right to collect defaulted payments from voluntary licensees.

Because the tariff was unenforceable, there was no live dispute to ground the university's request for declaratory relief on fair dealing.

The Court nonetheless identified significant errors in the lower courts' fair dealing analysis, which wrongly focused exclusively on the institutional perspective rather than the perspective of the students as the ultimate users.

The appellants sought leave to appeal a Quebec Court of Appeal decision that denied leave to appeal a Superior Court authorization of a class action against automobile manufacturers for punitive damages arising from non-compliance with environmental standards.

The Superior Court had authorized the class action with respect to punitive damages only, declining to authorize the compensatory damages claim.

A majority of the Supreme Court found the Court of Appeal judge did not err in exercising her discretion to deny leave.

The minority would have granted leave on the basis that a question of law warranting appellate review had been raised, and would have remanded the matter to the Court of Appeal for a decision on the merits.

Nexen Energy commenced identical actions in Alberta and Ontario against ITP SA for damages arising from a pipeline rupture.

While the Purchase Order specified Ontario as the exclusive dispute resolution forum, ITP SA defended the Alberta action and sought to use the Ontario forum selection clause to have a discrete issue of law (interpretation of liability limits) adjudicated in Ontario via a Rule 21 motion before the Ontario action was stayed.

Nexen Energy moved to stay its own Ontario action.

The Master found "special circumstances" overriding the forum selection clause, preventing ITP SA from "slicing and dicing" the case.

The Master granted Nexen Energy's motion, permanently staying the Ontario action, and directed ITP SA's motion to Alberta, citing judicial economy, efficiency, and consistency, given the active case management in Alberta and the multi-party nature of the dispute.

Canadian National Railway Company moved for a stay of the Court of Appeal's June 2018 order requiring CN to reopen the James Street Bridge in Thunder Bay for vehicle traffic and maintain it in accordance with a 1906 agreement between Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Company and the Town of Fort William.

CN sought the stay pending its application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

The motion judge declined to grant the stay, finding that CN's leave application lacked sufficient merit to warrant a stay despite CN's potential irreparable harm from financial commitments to reconstruction work.

A power producer sought judicial intervention to force renegotiation of a long-term fixed-price electricity contract after market changes generated large resale profits for the purchaser.

The Court held Quebec civil law did not provide a basis to imply a duty to renegotiate, to apply unforeseeability in these circumstances, or to redistribute contractual benefits through good faith or equity.

The agreement allocated price fluctuation risk and remained enforceable as written.

The appeal was dismissed, with a dissent that would have recognized a relational-contract duty to cooperate.

In an appeal from judicial review proceedings, the appellants challenged a law society decision refusing accreditation to a proposed law school because of a mandatory covenant restricting sexual intimacy to marriage between a man and a woman.

The majority held that the regulator had statutory authority to consider the covenant’s impact on equal access, diversity in the profession, and potential harm to LGBTQ prospective students.

Applying the Doré/Loyola framework, the Court found the decision proportionately balanced freedom of religion with statutory public-interest objectives and was reasonable.

The appeal was dismissed, with concurring reasons and a dissent that would have allowed the appeal.

The City of Thunder Bay appealed a decision dismissing its application for a declaration that Canadian National Railway Company breached a 1906 agreement by refusing to reopen the James Street Swing Bridge for motor vehicle traffic following a 2013 fire.

The bridge is a combined railway and roadway structure.

The application judge found that the parties intended the bridge to be maintained only for the type of traffic existing in 1906 (streetcars, horses, and carts), not modern motor vehicles.

The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, finding the application judge's interpretation was unreasonable and tainted by extricable errors of law.

The court held that the perpetual right to cross the bridge for "vehicle traffic" and the obligation to maintain it "in perpetuity" must include modern motor vehicles, not merely those existing in 1906.

The court also found the application judge erred in placing the onus on Thunder Bay to provide specific proposals for making the bridge safe for vehicles, when that obligation rested with CN as the bridge operator.

The City of Thunder Bay applied for declaratory orders and specific performance to compel Canadian National Railway Company (CN) to reopen and perpetually maintain the James Street Swing Bridge for vehicular traffic.

The City argued that CN's perpetual maintenance obligation included upgrading the bridge to modern safety standards.

CN contended its obligation was limited to the original 1906 design and that reopening required significant structural reconfiguration beyond maintenance.

The Fort William First Nation supported the City's position.

The court dismissed the application, finding the City's proposals for reopening the bridge vague and lacking specificity, and that the evidence did not clearly define the required work or establish that such work fell within CN's contractual maintenance obligation.

This decision addresses costs following two motions where the Bank of Montreal and Surgeson Carson Associates, Inc. (the Receiver) successfully obtained summary judgment dismissing claims by Jean-Luc Cardinal, Linda Cardinal, The Estate of Raymond Cardinal, and Ferme Lanidrac (the Borrowers), and successfully defended the Borrowers' motion to set aside a consent judgment.

The Bank and Receiver sought substantial indemnity costs, citing the complexity, importance, and unfounded allegations of fraud and abuse of process made by the Borrowers.

The Borrowers argued for partial indemnity costs, claiming shared success on a legal test and that the defendants' evidence was excessive.

The court awarded substantial indemnity costs to the Bank ($110,000) and the Receiver ($50,000), finding the Borrowers' conduct in re-litigating settled claims and making serious, unsubstantiated allegations of dishonesty warranted higher costs, despite acknowledging minor success on a legal argument.

This appeal addressed federal Crown civil liability for the Minister of Justice's handling of mercy applications after a wrongful conviction.

The Court held that the mercy power was a core policy function protected by qualified immunity, and liability required bad faith or serious recklessness rather than simple fault.

The appellant did not prove that ministers acted in bad faith or that any alleged review failures caused compensable loss.

The Court also rejected additional damages, punitive damages, and claimed extrajudicial fees tied to alleged abuse of process.

The Supreme Court considered whether provisions of the Civil Code of Quebec limiting family patrimony, compensatory allowance, partnership of acquests, and spousal support to married and civil union spouses infringed s. 15(1) of the Charter by excluding de facto spouses.

A 5-4 majority on s. 15(1) found the exclusion violated equality rights based on marital status.

However, the Chief Justice found the infringement justified under s. 1, joining the four judges who found no s. 15(1) violation, resulting in a 5-4 decision upholding the constitutionality of the impugned provisions.

The dissent would have struck down some or all of the provisions as unjustified discrimination against de facto spouses.

Following dismissal of jurisdiction motions brought by several foreign tobacco companies in a health care cost recovery action, the court determined costs.

The unsuccessful moving parties argued that earlier evidentiary and procedural steps constituted separate proceedings and sought substantial costs for those steps.

The court rejected that characterization, holding that all preliminary steps formed part of the overall jurisdiction challenge and that distributive costs awards based on success on individual steps should be avoided.

Applying Rule 57.01 factors and general costs principles, the court found the responding party was the successful party and entitled to costs, subject to reductions reflecting partial success on certain evidentiary and motion issues.

The court awarded partial indemnity costs of $425,000 plus disbursements, allocating liability between two groups of moving defendants.

Parents challenged a school board refusal to exempt their children from Quebec's mandatory Ethics and Religious Culture course, alleging violations of religious freedom and improper external influence.

The Court held that sincere belief alone is insufficient, and objective proof of interference is required.

On this record, the parents failed to prove the program infringed freedom of religion, and the refusal to exempt was upheld.

The Crown brought an action under the Tobacco Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act against several domestic and foreign tobacco companies, claiming $50 billion for health care costs related to tobacco disease.

Six foreign defendants brought motions to set aside service ex juris and stay or dismiss the action, arguing the Ontario court lacked jurisdiction simpliciter.

The court dismissed the motions, finding that the Crown had established a good arguable case that the foreign defendants conspired and acted in concert to commit tobacco-related wrongs, establishing a real and substantial connection to Ontario.