Category: Uncategorized Page 4 of 10

By: Jonnette Watson Hamilton

PDF Version: A Cautionary Tale about Suing in the Name of the Correct Legal Entity

Case Commented On: 2040497 Alberta Ltd v Samateh, 2019 ABPC 321 (CanLII)

In 2017, Abdoulie Samateh was sued by his landlord for rent in arrears – or was he? He was sued by William Masri, and Masri was the sole owner of 2040497 Alberta Ltd, as well as its president, secretary and treasurer. And it was 2040497 that was the landlord of the apartment rented to Samateh, not Masri. And so when the 2017 action went to trial on April 23, 2019, Assistant Chief Judge Gordon W. Sharek dismissed the landlord’s claim because the party suing – Masri – was not the landlord. He also dismissed a counter-claim by the tenant because the tenant called no evidence to support his claimed loss of personal property. One month later 2040497 sued its former tenant, Samateh, for the same rental arrears, as well as for damages. But 2040497 also lost, this time following a trial in December 2019. Judge Sandra L. Corbett decided that 2040497’s action was res judicata and also an abuse of process, and she awarded enhanced costs of $1,825 to the tenant. She held that 2040497 was wrong to sue because it tried to relitigate matters that had already been decided by ACJ Sharek in the first action. Many landlords who run their business through a corporation (and others operating small businesses) might be shocked to learn that they might have only one chance, when suing, to name the correct legal entity. If they get it wrong, there might be no “do over.” In addition, there might be a monetary penalty for what Judge Corbett called “litigation misconduct”.

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By: Jennifer Koshan

PDF Version: Family Violence Deaths in Alberta – An Analysis of the 2019 Reports

Reports Commented On: Family Violence Death Review Committee, Annual Report 2018-2019 and Case Review Reports 7 and 8, available here

At the mid-point of 2019, police reported that over half of all homicides in Calgary in the year to date – 54% – had occurred in the context of domestic violence. The Family Violence Death Review Committee (FVDRC) issued its annual report for 2018-19 in December 2019, which reports that between 2008 and 2018 there were 189 family violence deaths in Alberta (at 11). Of the 23 Albertans who died in family violence related incidents in 2018, 20 were victims and three were perpetrators who died in murder-suicides (at 13). The report clearly shows that family violence deaths in Alberta are gendered. Ninety per cent of perpetrators in 2018 were male, and 16 of the 20 victims were female, with the majority being women aged 20-29 who were killed with a weapon (at 14). Two of the victims were children. Previous FVDRC reports confirm that family violence related deaths in Alberta are gendered (see 2017-18 Annual Report at 5, 2016 Annual Report at 5, 2015-16 Annual Report at 14, and 2014-15 Annual Report at 28).

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By: Admin

PDF Version: ABlawg: Year in Review 2019

Introduction

This was another busy year for ABlawg, with a total of 113 posts in 2019 to date. Nigel Bankes surpassed the 300 mark for lifetime posts in 2019 and one of his posts from 2017 was cited by the Supreme Court of Canada in Redwater (aka Orphan Well Association v Grant Thornton Ltd, 2019 SCC 5 (CanLII)), the second time the SCC has cited ABlawg (see also Mikisew Cree First Nation v. Canada (Governor General in Council), 2018 SCC 40 (CanLII), citing another of Professor Bankes’ posts).

Here are some other highlights of the year on ABlawg.

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By: Admin

Readers may have noticed that since September we have disabled the comment function on ABlawg. Simply put, and like many other on-line publications, moderating comments had become too demanding of our resources. We recently re-visited this decision and have decided to confirm our new approach. We encourage readers to contact authors directly with their feedback or comments. The email addresses of faculty member authors are readily available on the Faculty’s website and through links at the bottom of each post. Readers can also engage with our posts on Twitter – all of our posts are tweeted by ABlawg. As always, we thank you for reading ABlawg.

By: Lisa Silver

PDF Version: A Lesson in First Year Criminal Law Principles: How The Supreme Court of Canada “Modifies” Objective Mens Rea Offences in R v Javanmardi

Case Commented On: R v Javanmardi, 2019 SCC 54 (CanLII)

As I come to the close of the first half of teaching 1Ls criminal law principles, I review the course syllabus for the second half of the course to revise, delete, and add relevant case readings. Next term, I will discuss those crimes, which require the objective form of liability or objective mens rea. Although this area was once rife with disagreement and fractured alliances at the Supreme Court of Canada level, at the time of formulating last year’s syllabus, objective mens rea offences, such as unlawful act manslaughter and criminal negligence causing death, were well-defined both in terms of actus reus (prohibited act) and mens rea (fault element). However, the law can and does change; either through clarification or modification of accepted legal rules and principles or through the creation of completely new ones. In R v Javanmardi, 2019 SCC 54, the most recent Supreme Court of Canada decision on objective mens rea offences, it appears the Court has done more than clarify and modify what was a settled area of law but has, arguably, radically re-defined the legal tests and principles forobjective mens rea offences in the Criminal Code. This article will attempt to deconstruct the majority decision, authored by Justice Rosalie Abella, in an effort to understand the significance of this decision and the future impact it will have to this area of law.

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