Ronald Carr

The plaintiff staked unpatented mining claims on Crown land where the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) planned to build a realigned highway.

The plaintiff subsequently applied for aggregate permits, which were delayed and limited due to the highway construction.

The plaintiff brought an action claiming the MTO expropriated the property and sought compensation for the lost aggregate value.

The Superior Court of Justice dismissed the action, finding that an unpatented mining claim is not 'land' under the Expropriations Act.

The court further held that even if it were land, the claims had no value because the plaintiff could not have obtained an aggregate permit for the entire property, and the property was not wrongfully downzoned.

The applicant in a receivership proceeding sought approval of its counsel's fees to be paid from an administration charge.

The Attorney General opposed, arguing that the fees should only cover work related to the receivership and not the concurrent forfeiture proceedings.

The court rejected this distinction, finding that the forfeiture application created barriers to the sale of the business that counsel had to address.

The court found the fees reasonable and approved them.

The applicant sought an order requiring consumer reporting agencies to remove debts older than two years from his credit report, arguing that once the two‑year limitation period under the Limitations Act, 2002 expires, such debts cannot be legally enforced and should not be reported.

The court considered whether the limitation period governing civil proceedings should apply to the time frame for reporting debts under the Consumer Reporting Act.

The court held that the statutes serve distinct purposes: the Limitations Act governs the enforcement of legal claims, while the Consumer Reporting Act regulates consumer credit reporting.

Because neither statute incorporates the other, the two‑year limitation period does not restrict the reporting of debts under the Consumer Reporting Act.

The applicant’s Charter argument also failed because the actions complained of involved private entities rather than governmental action.

The respondent, Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO), brought a motion to strike the applicant's application for declaratory relief, arguing that as a non-corporate statutory entity, it lacked the capacity to be sued.

The court dismissed the motion, distinguishing prior case law that barred actions for damages against FSCO.

The court held that because the applicant sought declaratory relief rather than damages, the application could proceed.

The debtor company in CCAA proceedings brought a motion seeking a declaration that two Occupational Health and Safety Act prosecutions commenced by the provincial labour ministry were stayed by the CCAA initial order, or alternatively that the proceedings should be stayed under s. 11.1(4) of the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act.

The debtor argued that any conviction would result only in monetary fines, rendering the ministry a creditor whose claim should be addressed within the insolvency process.

The court held that regulatory prosecutions are not equivalent to creditor enforcement where no monetary obligation has yet crystallized and the regulator is acting in a prosecutorial capacity.

Applying the Supreme Court’s test for regulatory claims under insolvency legislation, the court concluded that the ministry was not acting as a creditor and that the proceedings remained regulatory in nature.

The motion to declare the prosecutions stayed was therefore dismissed.

Landowners brought applications under the Beds of Navigable Waters Act seeking a determination of title to the bed of a creek running through their properties.

Under s. 1 of the Act, if the waterway was navigable at the time of the Crown grant, the bed remains vested in the Crown unless expressly granted.

The court considered historical surveys, expert evidence, photographs, and testimony regarding seasonal water levels and canoe use.

Applying established case law on navigability and the concept of “public utility,” the court found the waterway was likely navigable for significant portions of the year at the time of the 1816 Crown grant.

Consequently, the bed of the stream remained Crown property and severed the applicants’ lands.

The applicant sought declarations that funds advanced under a provincial training funding agreement were held in trust and should be returned following the insolvency of the recipient limited partnership.

The court considered whether the funds were impressed with a Quistclose trust and whether a receiver’s charging order nonetheless had priority over those funds.

Applying authorities including Quistclose and Twinsectra, the court held that the agreement restricted the use of funds to a specific training project and required repayment of unspent funds, demonstrating the necessary intention to create a trust.

The court found the remaining funds held by the receiver were impressed with a trust in favour of the applicant but concluded they were subject to the receiver’s previously granted charging order.

The funding agreement was declared terminated.

The plaintiffs brought a motion for leave to amend their statement of claim in a long‑standing breach of contract action relating to highway reconstruction and alleged misrepresentation of available rock quantities.

The defendant Crown opposed a proposed amendment referring to numerous similar contractor claims against the Ministry, arguing the amendment was irrelevant and would trigger extensive documentary production and prejudice.

The court held that evidence of similar claims existing at the time the contract was executed could be relevant to whether the Ministry knew or ought to have known its representations were inaccurate.

However, claims made after execution of the contract were not relevant.

Leave to amend was granted with the limitation that references to post‑contract claims be removed.

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.

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.