Neil David Abraham

The appellant appealed her conviction for criminal harassment against her former domestic partner.

The trial judge had convicted the self-represented appellant after rejecting her evidence and accepting the complainant's evidence.

On appeal, the Superior Court of Justice found that the trial judge failed to properly apply the third step of the W.(D.) test and provided insufficient reasons regarding the elements of the offence, specifically whether the complainant was repeatedly followed and whether the appellant had the requisite mens rea.

The appeal was allowed, the conviction was set aside, and a new trial was ordered.

The appellant brought a motion for leave to appeal an order of the Superior Court of Justice dated August 16, 2022.

The Divisional Court dismissed the motion for leave to appeal and awarded costs to the respondents in the fixed amount of $3,500.

The defendants brought a motion to withdraw an admission made in their Statement of Defence regarding the plaintiff's entitlement to common law reasonable notice.

The plaintiff opposed the motion and brought a cross-motion to strike portions of the defendants' motion record.

The court applied the three-part test for withdrawing an admission and found that there was a triable issue regarding the enforceability of the termination provision, the admission was made in error, and the withdrawal would not cause non-compensable prejudice to the plaintiff.

The motion to withdraw the admission was granted.

The plaintiff was entitled to costs for the cross-motion, but the court offset these against the defendants' costs for the main motion, ordering each party to bear their own costs.

The appellants, who own most of the bed of Silver Lake, sought a declaration that the lake is non-navigable under the Beds of Navigable Waters Act to prevent other cottage owners from navigating vessels over their portion of the lakebed.

The application judge dismissed the application, applying the definition of 'navigable water' from the federal Canadian Navigable Waters Act (CNWA).

On appeal, the Court of Appeal held that the application judge erred in applying the CNWA definition to a property dispute over lakebed rights.

However, the Court declined to grant the declaration sought by the appellants, noting that the application judge had not resolved the necessary factual issues and that a declaration would not resolve the underlying dispute regarding riparian rights and common law navigability.

The appeal was allowed, and the application was dismissed without prejudice to bringing a fresh application.

The applicant brought an application challenging the allegedly unauthorized transfer of an interest in his residential property to his former fiancé, creating a joint tenancy.

The applicant also sought a Certificate of Pending Litigation (CPL).

Following the applicant's death, his estate brought a motion for an Order to Continue the proceeding.

The court granted the Order to Continue and, on consent of the respondent, issued the CPL to preserve the property pending litigation.