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Pritchard v Van Nes: Imposing Liability on Perpetrator Zero of Defamatory Facebook Posts Gone Viral

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On May 18, 2016

In Internet Law, Torts

By: Emily Laidlaw

PDF Version: Pritchard v Van Nes: Imposing Liability on Perpetrator Zero of Defamatory Facebook Posts Gone Viral

Case Commented On: Pritchard v Van Nes, 2016 BCSC 686

Justice Saunders of the British Columbia Supreme Court recently decided Pritchard v Van Nes, 2016 BCSC 686 (Pritchard) concerning the liability of individuals not only for their Facebook posts, but how their “friends” react to these posts, whether through comments, sharing or otherwise distributing the post. This case asks: if you start the fight, are you liable for the pile-on? The analysis of the Court could have significant repercussions concerning the uneasy balance between the right to reputation and freedom of expression, arguably tipping the balance in favour of reputation in stark departure from recent Supreme Court of Canada cases on defamation (see Crookes v Newton, 2011 SCC 47, Grant v Torstar Corp., 2009 SCC 61, WIC Radio Ltd. v Simpson, 2008 SCC 40).

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Stewart Estate: Finalizing The Judgment Roll and Costs

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On May 17, 2016

In Contracts, Oil & Gas

By: Nigel Bankes

PDF Version: Stewart Estate: Finalizing The Judgment Roll and Costs

Decisions commented on: Stewart Estate v TAQA North Ltd, 2016 ABCA 143 and Stewart Estate v TAQA North Ltd, 2016 ABCA 144

The Court of Appeal handed down its main decision in Stewart Estate v TAQA North Ltd, 2015 ABCA 357 (hereafter the main decision) in November 2015. In my post on the main decision I suggested that “while Stewart Estate is certainly a significant decision (which grapples with important issues including, the standard of review applicable to lease interpretation questions, the rules surrounding the termination of oil and gas leases and the question of remedies for wrongful production), it is ultimately a disappointing decision because, in the end, with three separate judgments, this three person panel of the Court agrees on very little.”

We now have two further decisions from the panel of the Court that heard the case, one decision settling the judgement roll (hereafter the judgment roll decision) and the second dealing with the costs award (the costs decision). The judgment roll decision expressly describes itself (at para 1) as providing supplementary reasons to the main decision. This post not does provide a systematic account of either of these decisions but it does aim to identify where these decisions have added to the reasoning in the main decision or have provided dicta that may be of interest beyond this case.

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When Three Rights Make a Wrong?

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On May 13, 2016

In Criminal

By: Erin Sheley

PDF Version: When Three Rights Make a Wrong?

Case commented on: R v Oakes, 2016 ABCA 90

R v Oakes raised the specter always haunting the edges of criminal procedure: what happens when a procedurally fair trial turns out, after the fact, to have produced an unfair conviction?

Connie Oakes was convicted of the second-degree murder of Casey Armstrong, primarily based on the testimony of her alleged co-conspirator Wendy Scott. Scott, who is cognitively delayed and has an IQ of 50, told police that she had seen Oakes kill Armstrong with a knife in the bathroom of his trailer. Scott herself pled guilty to second-degree murder for her own involvement in the crime, after confessing during the course of numerous uncounseled interrogations between June 2011 and January 2012 (at para 4). Prior to implicating Oakes, Scott had accused three other individuals of the act, testifying at trial that she had lied on those three occasions (at para 16). Scott’s testimony was the centerpiece of the Crown’s case against Oakes in the absence of physical evidence linking her to the crime scene and given that a neighbor’s description of a suspect leaving the scene more closely resembled one of the other individuals Scott had originally implicated (at paras 15-18).

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The Annex VII Tribunal in The “Enrica Lexie” Incident Makes New Provisional Measures Order

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On May 12, 2016

In Arbitration, International Law, Law of the Sea

By: Nigel Bankes

PDF Version: The Annex VII Tribunal in The “Enrica Lexie” Incident Makes New Provisional Measures Order

Decision commented on: Annex VII Arbitral Tribunal, Order on Prescription of Provisional Measures in the “Enrica Lexie” Incident, Registry of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, 29 April 2016

The “Enrica Lexie” incident has already been the subject of an earlier post here in relation to the provisional measures order made by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) pending the establishment of the Annex VII Tribunal in the matter. The facts of the matter and the unusual nature of ITLOS’s jurisdiction in cases of this sort are canvassed in that earlier post. The characterization of the dispute as summarized by the Annex Tribunal VII is as follows (at para 5):

According to Italy, the Parties’ dispute arises from an incident approximately 20.5 nautical miles off the coast of India involving the “MV Enrica Lexie”, an oil tanker flying the Italian flag, and India’s subsequent exercise of criminal jurisdiction over the vessel and two Italian marines from the Italian Navy, Chief Master Sergeant Massimiliano Latorre and Sergeant Salvatore Girone, in respect of that incident. According to India, the “incident” in question concerns the killing of two Indian fishermen, on board an Indian vessel named the “St. Antony”, and the subsequent exercise of jurisdiction by India. It is alleged that the fishermen were killed by the two Italian marines stationed on the “Enrica Lexie”.

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A National Code of Conduct?

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On May 11, 2016

In Ethics and the Legal Profession

By: Alice Woolley

PDF Version: A National Code of Conduct?

Document Commented On: The Federation of Law Societies of Canada’s Model Code of Professional Conduct

I like the Federation of Law Societies’ Model Code of Conduct. It’s not perfect.   But it represents the culmination of considerable effort and reflection by intelligent and thoughtful lawyers. It provides meaningful guidance on a number of issues that lawyers face, particularly in relation to conflicts of interest. It provides a vehicle for national discussion and for work on emerging issues and on areas requiring reform.   The Federation has done some truly great things with the Code, such as having a Standing Committee to update and revise the Code on an ongoing basis, and creating an interactive website where the provisions of the Federation’s Code can be cross-referenced with similar provisions applicable in every Canadian province.

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