Category Archives: Civil Procedure: New Rules of Court

Getting Foreclosure Practice Right: Some Regulatory Suggestions

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Case commented on: AGF Trust Company v Soos, 2012 ABQB 747.

AGF Trust Company v Soos is a decision by Master Lorne Smart, reviewing a Bill of Costs in a standard residential foreclosure action – not the sort of decision that usually attracts our attention at ABlawg. But the Master does two things that make this decision worth commenting on. First, he makes an example of procedural irregularities in the action to reduce the legal fees claimed in the Bill of Costs. Second, he uses his review to comment on some troublesome economic aspects of foreclosure practice.

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Refining Vexatious Litigant and Vexatious Spokesperson Jurisprudence

Case considered: Allen v Gray, 2012 ABQB 66

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Alberta’s new vexatious litigant provisions have been in force for almost five years now and a useful body of precedent has been developed. Novel points continue to arise, but these tend to be minor ones. Nevertheless, Allen v Gray makes three useful legal points: (1) case law from before the 2007 amendments continues to be useful, in part because the term “vexatious” is undefined; (2) it is irrelevant whether the alleged vexatious litigant is prosecuting (or defending) his or her own action or acting as an agent for another person (the “vexatious spokesperson”); and (3) the new provisions are of no help in preventing vexatious administrative proceedings.

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Waiver of Dispute Resolution under the New Rules

PDF version: Waiver of Dispute Resolution under the New Rules

Case considered: IBM Canada Limited v Kossovan, 2011 ABQB 621.

In IBM Canada Limited v Kossovan, Mr. Justice Bryan E. Mahoney provided the first judicial interpretation of an important new provision in the Alberta Rules of Court, Alta Reg 124/2010 (New Rules). The provision in question – Rule 4.16(2) — governs applications to waive the dispute resolution processes mandated by Rule 4.02(e) of the New Rules. As Justice Mahoney notes (at para 4), “[w]hile the New Rules contemplate circumstances wherein the requirement might be waived, as yet, there is little guidance from our Court as to how this Rule is to be interpreted.” Using case law from other jurisdictions that have adopted similar mandatory dispute resolution procedures, this decision begins to provide that guidance. However, as much of that guidance is based on anecdotal evidence and intuitions about the effectiveness of dispute resolution, it is to be hoped that the mandatory dispute resolution provisions of the New Rules will be empirically evaluated for both costs and benefits in the near future.

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Third Edition of the JSS Barristers Rules

As noted in previous posts, in its newsletter titled JSS Barristers Rules JSS Barristers provides summaries of cases considering the new Alberta Rules of Court, Alta Reg 124/2010.

Issue 3 of the Newsletter and updated Cumulative Summary are now available here.

The JSS Barristers website, www.jssbarristers.ca, features a Cumulative Summary of Court Decisions which considers the Alberta Rules of Court. The Cumulative Summary of the Rules is organized by the Rule considered, and includes an expanded summary of the Decisions including key quotations from the Decisions. It is updated regularly to ensure that it provides an ongoing and current resource for those interested in the consideration of the Rules of Court on a cumulative basis.

Those who are interested in receiving future editions of JSS Barristers Rules can subscribe here.

Second edition of JSS Barristers Rules now available

As noted in a previous post, JSS Barristers is providing summaries of cases considering the new Alberta Rules of Court, Alta. Reg. 124/2010, in a newsletter called JSS Barristers Rules. The second edition of the newsletter is available here. Of particular note is the following:

Our website, www.jssbarristers.ca, now also features a Cumulative Summary of Court Decisions which consider the Alberta Rules of Court. The Cumulative Summary of the Rules is organized by the Rule considered, and includes an expanded summary of the Decisions including key quotations from the Decisions. It will be updated regularly to ensure that it provides an ongoing and current resource for those interested in the consideration of the Rules of Court on a cumulative basis.

Those who are interested in receiving future editions of JSS Barristers Rules can subscribe here.