Meaningful Disclosure

Candice Chan-Glasgow, Director, Review Services and Counsel

August 7, 2020

In a decision released last month, R. v. Cuffie, 2020 ONSC 4488 (CanLII), the Ontario Superior Court of Justice considered whether the Crown’s disclosure of non-searchable PDFs constitutes “meaningful” disclosure.

The Crown provided disclosure in nine tranches, and each tranche of disclosure was accompanied by a spreadsheet which functioned as a table of contents. The spreadsheet listed the file name of every item disclosed, the folder in which the file was located, and the date the item was disclosed. Approximately 7,000 “written documents” (over 318,600 pages) were disclosed, in addition to over 9,000 audio files, videos, and photographs. … Read More

Virtual Hearings – Here to Stay?

Candice Chan-Glasgow, Director, Review Services and Counsel

July 24, 2020

On July 6, 2020, courtrooms in certain locations across Ontario resumed in-person proceedings, and each week, additional courtrooms across the province are continuing to re-open.

However, Chief Justice Morawetz’s July 21, 2020 Notice to the Profession recognizes that not all participants may be comfortable attending a courthouse during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that virtual hearings should be explored when requested.

Counsel and parties facing a request for a virtual hearing should consider Justice Myers’ recent order that an examination for discovery proceed by video conference. Justice Myers wrote in Arconti v.… Read More

Technical document production struggles will not excuse undue delay

Wendy Cole

Director, Project Management and Counsel

October 1, 2018

The October 2017 decision of Master Graham in 683153 Ontario Limited et al. v. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company et al. , 2017 ONSC 6024 (CanLII) serves as a cautionary tale for both counsel and clients who are unfamiliar with the complexities of producing discovery documents in electronic format.

Although this was an extreme case of delay, it stands for the broader principle that litigants cannot rely on complexity, costs and eDiscovery problems to excuse them from pursuing the case in an expeditious manner and in compliance with the timelines set out under the rules, particularly when those problems are the result of inexperience of counsel in managing large electronic productions.… Read More

Court Orders Non-Parties in Parallel Action to Produce Documents

June 11, 2018

In Schwoob v. Bayer Inc., 2018 ONSC 166 (CanLII), a product liability class action, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ordered two non-parties affiliated with the defendant corporation to produce 2,900 documents that they had produced in a parallel U.S. class action proceeding.

The plaintiffs brought a claim against Bayer Inc. (“Bayer Canada”) and two affiliated companies, Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Inc. (“Bayer U.S.”) and Bayer Pharma AG (“Bayer Pharma”), in 2010, on behalf of women in Ontario who had taken certain prescription oral contraceptives. The claim alleged negligence in the design, testing, distribution, marketing and sale of the contraceptives, as well as failure to adequately warn of the risk of adverse consequences. … Read More

Order has been Restored: Federal Court of Appeal Upholds Common Interest Privilege

Candice Chan-Glasgow

Director, Document Review Services

March 27, 2018

In Iggillis Holdings Inc. v. Canada (National Revenue), 2018 FCA 51 (CanLII), a highly anticipated decision released earlier this month, the Federal Court of Appeal overturned a Federal Court decision which found that common interest privilege “is not a legitimate or acceptable application of solicitor-client privilege”.

In this case, Abacus Capital (“Abacus”) structured a series of transactions to acquire the shares of the corporations that were previously held by IGGillis Holdings Inc. and Ian Gillis (collectively, “Gillis”). Abacus’ lawyer, with input from Gillis’ lawyer, prepared a memorandum outlining the steps to purchase the shares in the most tax-efficient manner (the “Abacus Memo”). … Read More