Category: Civil Procedure Page 9 of 12

Case considered: Conway v. Zinkhofer, 2009 ABQB 417

PDF version: Not Your Usual Self-Represented Litigant?

The perception within the justice system is that self-represented litigants have below average literacy and comprehension levels: see the Alberta Self-Represented Litigants Mapping Project, Final Report, January 12, 2007 at 10. However, according to recent research, members of any social group may become self-represented litigants and between 60 and 65% had at least some post secondary education. One group of self-represented litigants is the group who could access representation but prefer to self-represent (Final Report at 15). Although a small percentage of the self-represented litigants (5% or less), the group includes those often referred to as “vexatious litigants” and judges report that this group of self-represented litigants are particularly time consuming and difficult to deal with (Final Report at 16). This appears to be an apt summary of the male respondent in this case, Fred Zinkhofer.

A Clarification of Evidentiary Requirements under the Protection Against Family Violence Act

By Jennifer Koshan

On August 21, 2009

In Civil Procedure, Evidence, Family, State Responses to Violence

Cases Considered: J.S. v. D.J.K., 2009 ABQB 426.

PDV Version: A Clarification of Evidentiary Requirements under the Protection Against Family Violence Act

Justice Donald Lee is a prolific author of judgments posted to the Alberta Courts website, and one of the only Alberta judges to post decisions made under the Protection Against Family Violence Act, R.S.A. 2000, c. P-27 (PAFVA) (see my earlier post Family Violence Cases in Alberta: A Snapshot). In one of his recent decisions, Justice Lee helpfully clarifies the evidentiary requirements for hearings to confirm emergency protection orders made under the PAFVA.

Solicitor-Client Privilege in Westra and Wyoming – Artificial Linguistic Pigeonholes and the Inappropriate Prioritization of Truth-Seeking

By Brett Code, Q.C.

On August 13, 2009

In Civil Procedure, Evidence

Cases Considered: Westra Law Office (Re), 2009 ABQB 391

PDF version: Solicitor-Client Privilege in Westra and Wyoming – Artificial Linguistic Pigeonholes and the Inappropriate Prioritization of Truth-Seeking

* Brett Code acknowledges the able assistance of John Lawless, a student-at-law at Bennett Jones LLP.

In Westra Law Office (Re), 2009 ABQB 391 (“Westra“), the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench recently had an opportunity again to consider the scope of solicitor-client privilege. The decision was founded on several grounds, only one of which interests us here, namely that involving the scope of solicitor-client privilege.

The Spectre of Personal Liability for Guardians of Dependant Adults

By Jonnette Watson Hamilton

On January 12, 2009

In Civil Procedure

Cases Considered: Smorag v. Nadeau, 2008 ABQB 714

PDF Version: The Spectre of Personal Liability for Guardians of Dependant Adults

The decision in Smorag v. Nadeau is noteworthy because the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) argued that the defendant was personally liable for a health care decision she made in her role as the guardian of an adult who lacked the mental capacity to make that decision for herself. Madam Justice June Ross appears to have accepted this novel argument. She found that the Dependant Adults Act, R.S.A. 2000, c. D-11, under which the defendant had been appointed guardian and granted the power to make health care decisions for the dependant adult, did not protect the defendant from personal liability. Although Justice Ross did, in the end, strike down the lawsuit against the defendant personally, she did so only because she was not prepared to find a duty of care owed by the defendant to an employee of the extended care facility where the dependant adult resided. That part of the decision – an Anns analysis – raises some interesting issues in itself. However, I want to focus on the fact that the law suit against the defendant in her personal capacity got as far as the Anns analysis. I will also look at whether Bill 24, the new Adult Guardianship and Trusteeship Act, S.A. 2008 c. A-4.2 that will replace the Dependant Adults Act later this year, removes the spectre of personal liability for guardians.

Investors should be cautious about investing in viatical settlements

By Greg Hagen

On December 10, 2008

In Civil Procedure

Cases considered: Stack v. Hildebrand, 2008 ABQB 668.

PDF Version: Investors should be cautious about investing in viatical settlements

As a result of the credit crunch, investors have become wary of risky investments. In its 2006 study, the BC Law Institute noted that, like many asset-backed instruments, viatical investments (or viaticals) are very risky investments. A typical viatical settlement occurs when an insured person sells his or her entitlement to receive a life insurance policy’s death benefit to a financial company who later sells a fractionalized portion of the entitlement to an investor. The financial company typically pays the premiums of the insurance policy. The primary risk is that the insured person will exceed his or her life expectancy. Another risk is that the financial company does not pay the premiums. Stack v. Hildebrand, 2008 ABQB 668 is a reminder that investors need to be cautious when considering investments in viaticals.