Catch and Exclude: The Ontario Court of Appeal reaffirms the Canadian approach to defining a “Security”

In late 2018, I wrote a summary of the Ontario Superior Court’s decision in OSC v Tiffin, 2018 ONSC 5419. In that case, a 6 month custodial sentence was imposed on a trader for trading in promissory notes despite being under a trading ban. Justice Charney ruled on whether to import the “family resemblance” test from US case law to determine whether a promissory notes amounted to a securities. Under that test, courts would use a contextual approach to determine if something constitutes a security. Ultimately the “family resemblance” test was not adopted into Canadian law. Instead, courts should rely ... [more] Full article
Has the OSC’s “special treatment” by appeal courts come to an end?
Appeals are usually an uphill battle for the party that loses at trial, but for more than two decades the hill has been even steeper for losing parties before the ... [more] Full article
Ontario Court of Appeal can order an appeal to be heard entirely in writing – even where a party objects
In a brief scheduling decision in 4352238 Canada Inc. v. SNC Lavalin Inc., Madame Justice Lois Roberts set a new precedent for the Court of Appeal for Ontario that the ... [more] Full article
When can a member sue a Church, Club, or other Voluntary Association for treating them unfairly?
In Aga v. Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church of Canada, 2020 ONCA 10, the Ontario Court of Appeal affirmed when a voluntary association can be sued for failing to follow their ... [more] Full article