Olga Redko

A lawyer referred his clients to a financial advisor who was his personal friend, and over a period of four years repeatedly endorsed and encouraged the clients to invest with the advisor's firm.

The investments turned out to be part of a Ponzi scheme and the clients lost over $5 million.

The trial judge dismissed the professional liability claim, finding no causal link between the lawyer's faults and the clients' losses.

The Quebec Court of Appeal reversed, finding the trial judge had assessed the evidence through a distorting lens leading to palpable and overriding errors.

The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, holding that the Court of Appeal correctly identified palpable and overriding errors and that the lawyer's breaches of his duty to advise and duty of loyalty were a true cause of the clients' losses; the intervening fraud did not break the chain of causation.

Aroland First Nation and Ginoogaming First Nation sought partial summary judgment for a declaration that the Crown's duty to consult under s. 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, is triggered by ongoing invasive testing (integrity digs and hydrostatic testing) on established natural gas pipelines traversing their traditional territories.

The defendants opposed, arguing no duty to consult or that the matter was unsuitable for partial summary judgment.

The court dismissed the motion, concluding that the issue could not be fairly and justly decided through partial summary judgment due to the need for a careful, incremental approach to Aboriginal law, disputed facts regarding adverse impact, significant overlap with broader issues of duty scope and breach, and the novelty of the case.