Selling Drug Paraphernalia a Pithy Criminal Substance

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Case considered: Smith v St Albert (City), 2012 ABQB 780.

In January, 2013, Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Terry Clackson ruled that a recent St. Albert bylaw that restricted the sale of drug paraphernalia must be struck down, because the bylaw fell outside the jurisdiction of the municipality (i.e., it was ultra vires). The bylaw in this case prohibited the display or sale of more than two products from a list of banned items, including pipes, marijuana grinders or products which display an image of a marijuana leaf. Business establishments that sell these and other forms of drug paraphernalia are sometimes referred to as “bong” or “head” shops, and exist in many municipalities across Canada.

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Whoever heard of such a thing? A Crown oil and gas lease an intangible form of personal property?

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Case considered: Kasten Energy Inc v Shamrock Oil and Gas Ltd, 2013 ABQB 63.

In this case Justice Lee granted Kasten’s application to appoint a receiver\manager over all of the assets of Shamrock, including Shamrock’s Crown oil and gas lease. Kasten was a secured creditor of Shamrock claiming under a general security agreement (GSA) over Shamrock’s present and after acquired personal property. In the course of making his decision to appoint a receiver Justice Lee concluded that Shamrock’s lease was an intangible form of personal property. Kasten brought its application for the appointment of a receiver\manager Kasten under section 13(2) of the Judicature Act, RSA 2000, c J-2 rather than under section 65(7) of the Personal Property Security Act, RSA 2000, c P-7 (PPSA).

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Limitation Periods and the Subjective Element

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Case considered: Boyd v Cook, 2013 ABCA 27.

As my University of Calgary law professors repeat time after time, a missed limitation date is one of the few things you cannot fix as a lawyer. So, when I came across this recent Alberta Court of Appeal case, naturally I paid close attention. The underlying claim was an investment in an unsuccessful development project. Mr. Cook induced Mr. Boyd to invest in a mortgage company. The majority of the funds were used to invest in a development project that Mr. Boyd had flatly refused on several occasions to invest in. Mr. Boyd filed a Statement of Claim. Mr. Cook sought summary dismissal on limitation grounds. A Master dismissed the summary dismissal application (2012 ABQB 284), which was upheld by a chambers judge. It looked like the parties were going to trial. However, the Court of Appeal decided to allow the limitations defense.

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Migratory Birds and the City

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Decision considered: Podolsky v Cadillac Fairview Corp. [2013] OJ No 581 (QL) [Note as of date of writing this decision is not available online at Canlii or the Ontario Court of Justice].

In this recent decision of the Ontario Court of Justice, Justice Melvyn Green finds the corporate defendant property developers and managers not guilty of charges laid against them by Ecojustice as a private prosecutor under the federal Species at Risk Act, SC 2002, c 29 as well as the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, RSO 1990, c O.36 and the Environmental Protection Act, RSO 1990, c E.19. The substance of these charges is the physical harm or death suffered by migratory birds when they collide with urban buildings. Justice Green rules the prosecution established beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendants committed the actus reus of the offences, and he also finds the defendants established on the balance of probabilities that they took reasonable steps to avoid the bird collisions. Accordingly, Justice Green acquits the defendants on all charges.

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