Ryan R. Watkins

In a wrongful dismissal claim, the defendant sought an adjournment of a scheduled 3-day summary trial, citing busyness and inability to adhere to a court-ordered timetable for document delivery.

The plaintiff opposed the adjournment.

The court denied the defendant's request, emphasizing that fixed trial dates are serious and require exceptional circumstances for adjournment, which were not present.

The court ordered the defendant to deliver its affidavit of documents promptly and for the trial to proceed as scheduled.

The plaintiff, Brand Name Marketing Inc., brought an action against Rogers Communications Inc. for breach of a non-disclosure agreement and breach of confidence.

The plaintiff alleged that it provided confidential marketing concepts to Rogers regarding a 'Pink Phone program' and a 'Call for the Cure program', which involved affinity marketing with a breast cancer charity.

The plaintiff claimed that Rogers misused this information to launch its own 'Pink Razr campaign' and sought over $14 million in damages.

The Superior Court of Justice dismissed the action, finding that the plaintiff could not enforce the NDA as it was not a party to it at the relevant time.

Furthermore, the court held that while certain financial projections were confidential, the general concept of a charitable donation tied to a product sale was public knowledge.

Ultimately, the court concluded that Rogers did not use the plaintiff's confidential information in designing or implementing the Pink Razr campaign, which was fundamentally different from the plaintiff's proposals.

An employee who was employed as CEO and president for nine years brought an appeal challenging the trial judge's finding that the employer's refusal to pay a bonus on profits from the sale of real estate investments did not constitute constructive dismissal, despite breaching the employment contract.

The Court of Appeal upheld the trial judge's decision, finding that the breach did not substantially alter an essential term of the employment contract and did not evince an intention by the employer to no longer be bound by the contract.

The court applied the two-branch test from Potter v. New Brunswick Legal Aid Services Commission, finding that neither branch was satisfied on the facts.