Cross-Border & Canadian Business Blog
Exploring cross-border business opportunities and trends.
What happens when a party claims it misunderstood the legal consequences of a contract, but had in fact obtained legal advice at the time it was executed? The short answer is that it can result in a complete loss of solicitor-client privilege. The Ontario Court of Appeal addressed this issue in One York Street Inc. …
Continue reading “Privilege at Risk: How Pleading Lack of Legal Understanding Can Backfire”
A recent decision from Ontario’s highest court has yielded an unusual result regarding Ontario’s ever-evolving summary judgment regime. Typically, motions for partial summary judgment are difficult to advance and, in many cases, do not proceed to scheduling given their low likelihood of success. However, Kotsopoulos v. Toronto (City), 2026 ONCA 121 (“Kotsopoulos”) raised an unusual …
Continue reading “Partial Summary Judgment Remains Exceptional: Lessons from Kotsopoulos V. Toronto”
In the recently released decision of Ross v. Luypaert, 2025 ONCA 236, the Ontario Court of Appeal reaffirmed that a co-owner of real estate can compel the sale of jointly owned property under the Partition Act. The only exception is where the opposing party can prove that such an application amounts to malicious, vexatious, or …
Continue reading “The Partition Act: A Powerful Tool for Resolving Jointly Owned Property Disputes”
A version of this article was originally published in RENX.ca What happens when a commercial tenant has the option to purchase the property that it is leasing but the parties cannot agree on the value? The simple answer is to do what the lease says. If they don’t, it can result in the loss of …
Continue reading “When Appraisals Clash: Lessons from a Commercial Property Dispute”
The question of when a lawsuit can be commenced in Ontario seems pretty straightforward – in general, a plaintiff has two years from the date when the basis for a claim is (or should have been) discovered. It sounds simple enough, and oftentimes, it is. However, a few recent decisions from the Ontario Court of …
This column was originally published on RENX.ca. When a deal to buy and sell land for development goes awry, an innocent purchaser can sue for the damages suffered. However, in most cases, the measure of damages will be the difference between the purchase price of the land and the market value on the closing date. Lost …
This column was originally published on RENX.ca. Ontario’s highest court has ruled that a landlord cannot arbitrarily refuse to allow a commercial tenant to assign its lease without good reason. The court looked at the applicable facts and information provided to the landlord to determine whether its refusal to consent to lease assignment is unreasonable and …
Continue reading “Ontario Court of Appeal Provides Insight on the Transfer of Commercial Leases”