ABLawg

Empty Voting

On November 5, 2012

Cases Considered: TELUS Corporation v Mason Capital Management LLC, 2012 BCCA 403 and Mason Capital Management LLC v TELUS Corporation, 2012 BCSC 1582

The most talked about Canadian corporate legal decision this year has been a British Columbia Supreme Court judgment in relation to TELUS’ attempt to convert a class of non-voting shares into voting shares. It was not even the ruling that had everyone talking, but several paragraphs of obiter near the end of the decision. The obiter concerned the phenomenon of “empty voting” and it was deemed sufficiently newsworthy to be reported in the national newspapers and discussed in legal blogs and articles on both sides of the border.

Addictions, Human Rights and Professional Discipline – Will the SCC Wade In?

By Linda McKay-Panos

On November 1, 2012

In Human Rights, Labour/Employment

PDF version: Addictions, Human Rights and Professional Discipline – Will the SCC Wade In?

Case Commented on: Wright v College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta (Appeals Committee), 2012 ABCA 267

In this recent case, the majority (Justice Frans Slatter, concurred with by Justice Keith Ritter) and the dissent (Justice Ronald Berger) of the Alberta Court of Appeal fundamentally disagreed on the approach to be taken when there are human rights principles at issue in professional discipline matters. Genevieve Wright and Mona Helmer were nurses who were disciplined by the College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta (“CARNA”) for stealing narcotics and for falsifying related records. Both argued that their addiction to narcotics amounted to a disability under the Alberta Human Rights Act, RSA 2000, c A-25.5 (“AHRA”). Thus, they argued that their employer had a duty to accommodate such that a modified disciplinary procedure was required under the Health Professions Act, RSA 2000, c H-7 (“HPA”).

The Organized Pseudolegal Commercial Argument (OPCA) Litigant Case

By Jonnette Watson Hamilton

On October 30, 2012

In Civil Procedure, Family, Vexatious Litigants

PDF version: The Organized Pseudolegal Commercial Argument (OPCA) Litigant Case

Case Commented on: Meads v Meads, 2012 ABQB 571

This decision by Associate Chief Justice John D. Rooke was the subject of much media attention when it was released. That attention was well deserved. The lengthy and well-researched decision fills a gap in the jurisprudence and scholarship on vexatious litigants by shining a spotlight on and systematically examining a category of litigants for whom Justice Rooke coined the collective term “Organized Pseudolegal Commercial Argument” (OPCA) litigants. These litigants are distinguishable from the more usual types of vexatious litigants because they use a collection of techniques and arguments sold by people Justice Rooke called “gurus.” His decision is valuable for several reasons: it collects all of the reported Canadian decisions dealing with OPCA litigants, it describes the indicia by which OPCA litigants can be recognized, it describes the concepts they have relied upon and the arguments they have made and why those arguments have all failed in every Canadian court, and it discusses what judges, lawyers, and litigants can do when faced with OPCA litigants.

Manitoba Decision on the Assignment of a Royalty Interest

By Nigel Bankes

On October 26, 2012

In Oil & Gas

PDF version: Manitoba decision on the assignment of a royalty interest

Case Commented on: Campion et al v Radomski et al, 2012 MBQB 267

In this case the beneficiaries of the Milliken estate (the beneficiaries) sought to ignore an assignment of a royalty interest that Milliken had executed during his life in favour of the Manning interests. The parties entitled to the Manning royalty interest sued to enforce that assignment and in this case the court dismissed an application by the beneficiaries (the defendants) for summary judgement.

Natural Gas Storage Rights in Ontario: Questions of Jurisdiction and Interpretation

By Nigel Bankes

On October 25, 2012

In Energy, Oil & Gas

PDF version: Natural gas storage rights in Ontario: questions of jurisdiction and interpretation

Cases Commented On: Tribute Resources v 2195002 Ontario Inc, 2012 ONSC 25 (on the jurisdictional issue) and 2195002 Ontario Inc v Tribute Resources Inc, 2012 ONSC 5412 (on the interpretation issues)

These two decisions represent one example of the efforts of Ontario landowners who claim ownership of natural gas storage rights by virtue of owning the rights to petroleum and natural gas to assert those rights against working interest owners who claim to have acquired storage rights by various old instruments including petroleum and natural gas leases, unitization arrangements, and, in some cases, specific gas storage leases. The cases are part of a broader litigation strategy in which storage owners are trying to negotiate more favourable economic terms that afford them the right to participate in the value that the storage represents to Ontario utilities and generators.