March 26, 2024 Printable PDF Construction Lien Reference to Small Claims Court Is Discretionary Key Takeaway Even if the monetary amount in dispute is within the jurisdiction of the Small Claims Court, the court has discretion on whether to refer a lien action to the Deputy Judge for trial....
March 15, 2024 Printable PDF Not as Simple as Clicking Submit, Your Claim for Lien Isn't Registered Until Certified Overview Until last year's decision in Gay Company Limited v. 962332 Ontario Inc., 2023 ONSC 6023 ("Gay Company Limited"), many construction law practitioners may have believed that the "registration" of...
February 28, 2024 Printable PDF Procedural Fairness and Adjudication Under Ontario’s Construction Act Key TakeawayAn adjudicator that fails to allow parties to make submissions regarding a key and decisive issue will likely result in that determination being quashed for violating the fundamental principle of procedural fairness. The Background and...
December 13, 2023 Printable PDF Holdback release for subcontracts, and after contract completion: two gaps in prompt payment In a recent article, I discussed a gap in the prompt payment provisions of the Construction Act related to P3s. In this article, I discuss two other gaps related to...
November 16, 2023 Printable PDF Increased Liability of Owners Under the OHSA Key Takeaways Arguably the most important construction law case to reach the Supreme Court of Canada in years, R v Greater Sudbury (City) greatly expands the legal liability of an owner who engages a constructor on...
October 25, 2023 Printable PDF Prompt payment on P3 projects: a gap in the Construction Act Ontario’s prompt payment system under the Construction Act (the “Act”) has changed the way that parties to construction projects understand their payment obligations. But when it comes to public-private partnership (“P3”) projects (also known as alternative...
August 15, 2023 Printable PDF Vacating a Lien? Beware of Relying on an Adjudicator’s Determination Key TakeawaysIf you’re bringing a motion under s. 44(5) of the Construction Act to reduce or return security, an adjudicator’s determination alone is unlikely to satisfy the evidentiary requirements to be met.In the...
May 31, 2023 Printable PDF Judicial Review of Adjudicator's Decisions under the Construction Act: Recent Guidance from the Divisional Court Introduction: The Construction Act's prompt payment provisions have brought significant changes to the construction dispute resolution process. Adjudication, an interim dispute resolution mechanism created alongside the prompt payment provisions, plays...
April 13, 2023 Printable PDF Considering the Jurisdictional Nuances of an Associate Justice’s Authority Key TakeawayIt is important for counsel to be mindful of the jurisdictional limitations of an Associate Justice’s authority when assessing where to bring your client’s motion. The expanded authority of a lien reference Associate...
April 3, 2023 Printable PDF Avoiding Discovery Obligation Pitfalls Key TakeawaysIt’s important to comply with your production and discovery obligations when making decisions to exclude certain documents during the discovery process. Otherwise, your client may find themselves in a predicament before trial where leave from the court is...