Our Take On Things
Happy Canada Day – Unhappy CASL Day !
It's July 1, let's celebrate 147 years of our Country by bringing the commercial use of email to a screeching halt. I'm not going to repeat what you need to do to comply with the Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation here. Scroll down our Blog and read the CASL Blog for that...
Small Claims Court Delays add to Costs for users
Our firm always looks at a litigation file that we’re starting from the perspective of how to obtain money (not just a paper Judgment) for our client in the fastest, most economical way possible. This is the viewpoint from which this Blog is written. In Ontario, you...
You have a Judgment, now let's get you money.
Judgments entitling you to money are just pretty pieces of paper until you take steps to enforce it. Those Judgments can cost a lot of legal fees to obtain and there should be no satisfaction in obtaining a Judgment that only has value of principle, rather than...
Less than one month until Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation takes effect – are you ready?
July 1, 2014 everything changes for business in Canada when it comes to Commercial Electronic Messages (CEMs) thanks to Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL). There are a lot of businesses in Canada who do not understand the law will apply to them: "we don't spam" is...
Lawyers behaving badly
There are some days it is harder to maintain my cool than others, the humidity in the GTA today makes it harder, but that it not what I'm talking about. Those days are when, generally, young counsel, stoop to name calling, taking positions not supportable by case law...
We need more Judges & Courthouses in Ontario
The Ontario Provincial election will be held June 12 and this is a good time to tell the candidates of all parties what's troubling this Province. As a law firm whose practice includes Business Law Litigation from the Small Claims Court to the Court of Appeal...
Registered Mail adds no value to collection demands
I recently read an Article about things businesses can do to collect money. One of the things it suggested was sending a Registered Letter to the person/business who owes you money. I disagree. As a Business Lawyer for 21 years, with a lot of experience in Collection...
What are we teaching our students?
I am a huge fan of educating High School Students about the Canadian Legal System. I'm always happy to participate in Judging the Law 11 and Law 12 Mock Trials that form part of many High School courses. Our firm is a also proud sponsor of a Scholarship for the...
The cost of the new Canadian Anti Spam Legislation on Small Business is crippling
On July 1, 2014 Canada's new Anti-Spam legislation (CASL) comes into effect. I'm doing a lot of speaking to Small Businesses right now, getting them up to speed on what they need to do in order to comply with CASL. The business owners are first shocked, then...
Why a will and list of your assets is important
There was an interesting article a few weeks ago in the Law Times about a lawyer tracking down the owner of a laneway in Mississauga:...
We the North – let's do this Raptors!
I love Basketball. Paul H. Voorn of our firm loves hockey. He also loves the Montreal Canadiens. We employ him anyway. He has suggested the Ontario Human Rights Code protects his right to cheer for the Habs ... we don't feel the need to test that. Paul has frequently...
A Tale of Two Law Suits
Yesterday was an interesting day at our firm as both Paul H. Voorn, one of our trial lawyers and Murray Brown, our Paralegal had matters come to an end that involved Offers to Settle. In Paul's matter, he received the Judgment in a case he argued last week. Paul won...
I know people don't like lawyers, but come on !!!
Society has many stereotypes about lawyers and some are well earned, but overall I don't think we're that bad. As a lawyer for 21+ years, I'm used to people not being happy about some of the advice I have to give, however, never has the outrage been as loud and angry...
The Brampton Court House Shooting – Thanks to All who keep us safe
Our firm has trial lawyers, myself included, who find ourselves in the Brampton Court House with fair regularity. We don't like being in Brampton. The Court Clerk Staff are overworked and matters take far longer there than in other jurisdictions. For eg. the clerk...
So you want to leave an adult child out of your will
As business lawyers, helping business owners with Estate Planning is part of what we do. I'm not going to write a long and detailed (yawn) blog post about all of the "interesting" technical issues that come up in drafting wills. Today, I'm going to write a direct and...
Know your customer so we can help you more efficiently
In sitting down to write this Blog, I tried to think of a business that doesn't have customers. I can't come up with one - if you can, send me an email and let me know. If you don't have customers, well then, read some of the old Blogs because this one is not meant...
Sometimes laws work in unusual ways
Leamington, Ontario, is the tomato capital of Canada. Many of the former and soon to be former workers of the Heinz tomato factory located there may now disagree. But then enters the Canadian Agricultural Products Act, which requires that tomato juice in Canada must...
International Women's Day
Tomorrow is International Women's Day. Sometimes I get frustrated that we have to single out women as a special group - I just want to be equal, not separate. However, today I choose to reflect on the fact that tomorrow is not "Canadian Women's Day" it is...
Public Safety vs. Human Rights
The Alberta Human Rights Tribunal recently ruled in favour of a foreign trained Engineer who claimed he was being discriminated against as he had failed the proficiency exam for Engineers in that province three times. The Alberta Human Rights Commission ordered the...
The Outrage about Severence Pay
The Toronto Community Housing Corp. was in the media last week, for amongst other things, paying severance to 26 employees it dismissed in 2013. The stats show the payment of severance at the TCHC is up from pervious years. No kidding. I would imagine most companies...
Canada is #1 at the Olympics (right now) and in Business
What a great morning to wake up Canadian - we currently are in first place in the Olympic Medal tally. We have a lot to be proud of as a country: this goes well beyond our ability to ski, skate, curl & hurtle down icy tracks on a small sled facing forward. We are a...