Sheila Ruth Block

The defendant brought a motion for summary judgment to dismiss the plaintiff's claim that it held a perpetual and exclusive right to own, operate, and collect tolls from a viable international border crossing in the vicinity of the Ambassador Bridge.

The plaintiff sought declarations of rights granted under the Canadian Transit Company Act and, alternatively, compensation for infringement and expropriation.

The court dismissed the motion, finding that the interpretation of the statutory franchise rights granted under the CTC Act, including whether implicit rights of exclusivity were conferred, raised a genuine issue requiring trial.

The appellant, Gerald Sternberg, appealed the dismissal of his action against Cresford Capital Corporation, seeking payment as a guarantor for a vendor take-back mortgage.

Sternberg had sold land to Cresford, which then assigned the agreement and mortgage to a single-purpose corporation that defaulted.

Cresford's name appeared as guarantor on the electronic mortgage registration, but Cresford argued this was an error and that no guarantee agreement existed.

The motion judge granted summary judgment to Cresford, finding no guarantee agreement.

The Court of Appeal upheld this decision, affirming that the motion judge correctly interpreted the agreements and that the electronic registration was an error inconsistent with the parties' bargain.

The Court emphasized the high standard of deference to the motion judge's contractual interpretation and found no reversible error.

The appellant sought leave to file a reply factum in an appeal, asserting that the respondent's factum introduced new issues, specifically regarding whether a secondary argument was properly raised on appeal and the applicability of the doctrine of merger.

The court found that new issues were indeed raised by the respondent and granted the appellant leave to file a reply factum, while denying the respondent the right to file a sur-reply factum.

Costs for the motion were reserved to the panel hearing the appeal.

The appellant infringed a patent held by the respondents for metallocene linear low-density polyethylenes (thin but strong plastics).

Following a liability finding, a reference judge awarded the respondents an accounting of profits equal to the appellant's actual revenue minus actual full costs, and also awarded springboard profits — profits earned post-patent-expiry causally attributable to infringement during the patent period.

The majority dismissed the appeal, holding that an accounting of profits requires disgorgement of all profits causally attributable to the invention using a three-step framework; the appellant's concession that no non-infringing option existed precluded reduction of the award; and springboard profits are legally permissible and factually supported.

Côté J. dissented, arguing the differential profit approach should have been available and the matter remitted to the Federal Court.

This is a costs endorsement following the dismissal of an appeal.

The Court of Appeal for Ontario awarded all-inclusive costs of $200,000 to the successful respondent, Ontario First Nations (2008) Limited Partnership, against the appellants, Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation and Her Majesty the Queen in right of Ontario.

The decision considered that this was the second level of appeal, the issues involved, and the respondent's success.

This is an appeal from a Superior Court decision upholding an arbitration award.

The arbitration panel found that Ontario and OLG breached a Gaming Revenue Sharing and Financial Agreement with the First Nations Partnership by unilaterally stopping payments of non-gaming revenue and complimentary services ("Comps") after outsourcing non-gaming amenities.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeals, affirming the lower court's decision that the Agreement was breached and the damages awarded were appropriate.

The court declined to rule on the standard of review for commercial arbitration decisions post-Vavilov, finding the outcome would be the same under either standard, and also declined to address the "honour of the Crown" doctrine as it was not determinative.

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.

This costs endorsement followed successful appeals by the Fram and Kerbel entities against Romandale Farms Limited.

Romandale had initially been awarded substantial indemnity costs for four intertwined actions tried together.

The Court of Appeal, applying the principle of overall success rather than issue-by-issue determination, found that Fram and Kerbel were entitled to partial indemnity costs for the original actions, having achieved overall success on appeal and having beaten a joint settlement offer.

The appellant, a federally-regulated Crown corporation, appealed a Federal Court of Appeal decision reinstating a Health and Safety Officer's direction that the employer had contravened s. 125(1)(z.12) of the Canada Labour Code by failing to ensure that workplace safety inspections covered letter carrier routes and points of call beyond the physical depot building.

The appeals officer had concluded that the statutory inspection obligation applied only to workplaces the employer physically controls, and the Federal Court upheld that decision.

The majority of the Supreme Court applied the Vavilov framework for reasonableness review and held that the appeals officer's interpretation — confining the inspection duty to employer-controlled premises — was reasonable, internally coherent, and defensible in light of the text, context and purpose of the provision.

The appeal was allowed and the appeals officer's order was restored.

Her Majesty the Queen in right of Ontario sought to lift a stay on its $330 billion health care cost recovery action against three tobacco companies (JTI-Macdonald Corp., Imperial Tobacco, Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Inc.) and eleven co-defendants, which was imposed under CCAA proceedings.

Ontario proposed to temporarily stay the effects of any judgment.

The court dismissed the motion, emphasizing the need to preserve the status quo in CCAA proceedings to facilitate a global resolution of significant claims.

Allowing Ontario's action to proceed would alter the level playing field, distract from restructuring efforts, and impose significant costs, prejudicing other stakeholders.

The court-appointed monitor sought directions on whether Di Battista Gambin Developments Limited (DBG) should pay the legal fees incurred by the Di Battista respondents for their appeal of a winding-up order.

The court found that the appeal was solely for the benefit of the individual Di Battista respondents, whose conduct had been found oppressive, and not for the mutual benefit or ordinary course of DBG's business.

Therefore, DBG should not fund the appeal costs, and the Di Battista respondents were ordered to repay any legal fees already paid by DBG.

The defendants sought to schedule a further motion for summary judgment on the Monopolies Act issue, having previously failed on a Rule 21 motion concerning the same claim.

The court denied the request, emphasizing that partial summary judgment is rarely appropriate in complex litigation, especially when recent amendments to pleadings have re-opened other significant issues, such as patent validity.

The judge concluded that the case should proceed to a single trial on all issues to avoid fragmented litigation and multiple appeals, which would prolong the proceedings and consume vast judicial resources.

The defendant, Chubb Insurance Company of Canada, brought a motion to transfer the action from the Central East Region (Newmarket) to the Toronto Region, pursuant to Rule 13.1.02 of the Rules of Civil Procedure.

The plaintiffs, Smartcentres Management Inc. and North Park Shopping Centres Limited, opposed the motion.

The court granted the transfer, finding that the events, subject matter, and damages were primarily located in Toronto, and that Toronto was "significantly better" in the interests of justice after a holistic application of the factors outlined in Rule 13.1.02(2)(b).

The Canadian National Railway Company (CNR) moved to stay an application brought by the Regional Municipality of Halton and its constituent municipalities (Halton) concerning the applicability of provincial and municipal laws to CNR's proposed intermodal rail hub in Milton.

Halton's application sought declarations on constitutional division of powers issues, arguing that provincial and local laws of general application should apply to the federal undertaking.

CNR contended the application was premature and interfered with an ongoing federal environmental assessment process.

The court granted CNR's motion to stay Halton's application, finding that while the constitutional issues were not hypothetical, the federal environmental review panel was mandated to consider local concerns and impacts, and allowing the application to proceed would be an unwarranted intrusion into the federal process and an inefficient use of judicial resources.

The stay is temporary, pending the completion of the federal environmental assessment and the Minister's decision.

The applicant, Monika Caryk, sought a Norwich Order compelling the respondent, Melinda Karlsson, to disclose information relevant to allegations that Caryk engaged in cyberbullying of Karlsson.

Caryk's reputation was allegedly damaged by media reports attributing online posts to her, stemming from Karlsson's now-expired peace bond application.

The court applied the five-part test for a Norwich Order, finding that Caryk failed to establish a tenable cause of action, that Karlsson was the only practicable source of the information, or that the interests of justice favored granting the order.

The application was dismissed, and no costs were awarded.

Self-represented long-term disability beneficiaries sought leave to appeal a sanction order from the Superior Court of Justice in the Nortel Networks CCAA proceedings.

The applicants challenged their binding status under the 2009 Representation Order for Disabled Employees and the 2010 Employee Settlement Agreement.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the motion for leave to appeal, finding that the stringent test for leave in CCAA proceedings was not met.

The proposed appeal lacked merit, the applicants were bound by the settlement agreement, and further delays in the protracted litigation were to be avoided.

The court also rejected a late-filed notice of constitutional question challenging sections 6(1) and 11 of the CCAA.

The plaintiff sought leave to appeal a decision that set aside a default judgment against the defendant.

The original default judgment found the defendant liable for breach of confidence, intentional infliction of mental distress, and invasion of privacy, awarding significant damages and an injunction.

The motion judge (Dow J.) set aside the default judgment, allowing the defendant to defend on the merits, conditional on a costs payment.

The plaintiff argued that the motion judge erred by considering the defendant's proposed defence despite intentional default, failing to distinguish liability from damages, and not adequately considering psychological harm.

The court dismissed the motion for leave to appeal, finding no reason to doubt the correctness of the motion judge's decision and emphasizing the importance of a trial on the merits for the development of tort law in this unique area.

The plaintiffs, having successfully appealed the dismissal of their class action as time-barred and obtained certification and leave to proceed, sought costs on a partial indemnity basis for the certification and leave motions.

The defendants argued for a significant reduction, citing an "indulgence" (nunc pro tunc order), costs for required steps, limitation period issues, expert reports, divided success, and comparable cases.

The court rejected the defendants' arguments, emphasizing the extraordinary nature of the case, the public interest in access to justice for complex class actions, and the substantial success achieved by the plaintiffs.

The court awarded the plaintiffs the full amount of costs claimed, $2,679,277.82, payable by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.