January 2012

January 17 - Read bios on our three newest lawyers: Prevain Devendran, Jody Iczkovitz, Dina Maxwell, One of these new lawyers has an Engineering Degree another their CIPP Designation and another has appeared before the Financial Services Commission.  All are fascinating people.

 January 19 - Grant Gold is featured in CTV's video on the legality of same-sex marriages performed in Canada where thousands of marriages were in doubt.

January 16 - Grant Gold is quoted in The Globe and Mail article Ottawa affirms legality of same-sex marriages performed in Canada. “What probably happened was that at the time the same-sex-marriage legislation was being passed, people were focusing on the positive and not the negative,” said Grant Gold, a Toronto family lawyer. “The euphoria of the moment might have taken over.” 

January 7 - The Ontario Court of Appeal released its decision, on Dec 23, in Kusnierz v. Economical, 2011 ONCA 823 confirming that an accident victim does not have to establish catastrophic impairment on the basis of physical impairments alone, or psychological impairments alone. Read the full case summary written by Michael Blinick published in Transportation Newsletter.

December 2011

On December 19, 2011, John Derringer gave MB a shout-out for their donation to Q107's 13 Days of Christmas in support of The Canadian Centre for Abuse Awareness and Martin Kruze Memorial Foundation. John thanked everyone at MB for giving so generously.  "Your dollars will help a whole lot of children have a gift this Christmas that would not have if it were not for you!" 

On December 12, 2011, Mark Mason is quoted in The Toronto Star's article "When a rented water tank leaks, who pays?" further to the decision below. "The court said that Reliance promised to provide the homeowners with a working hot water tank at all times. If the tank failed, Reliance undertook to replace it. If it required service, Reliance provided it," Mason said. 

On December 7, 2011, the Ontario Divisional Court released its decision in two appeals, in MB Clients' favour, that both involved property damage caused by the failure of leased hot water tanks. The appeals raised a number of issues relating to implied warranties in lease agreements, the application of the Consumer Protection Act, etc. Full case summary...

October 2011

October 7, 2011 - Six new lawyers started at the firm in September, their bios and photos are now published: Sabrina Lucibello, Yu Mai, Sandra Monardo, Adrian Nicolini, Meredith Rady and Lia Preyde. 

September 2011

September 2011 - Five lawyers from McCague Borlack LLP have been selected by their peers for inclusion in *The Best Lawyers International® 2012. The lawyers are Howard Borlack for both Construction Law, and Corporate and Commercial Litigation, Gary Caplan for Alternative Dispute Resolution, Grant Gold for Family Law, Nicole J. Tellier for Products Liability and Doug McInnis for Insurance Law.

September 27, 2011 - Grant Gold is quoted in the Lawyer's Weekly article Judge Brownstone goes prime time  regarding Ontario Judge Harvey Brownstone's role in television series on family law. “He's very bottom-line driven about issues and I would bet we will see that on television."

September 7, 2011 - Grant Gold was quoted in the article Ontario judge’s showmanship leads to TV series in the Globe and Mail regarding Ontario Judge Harvey Brownstone's role in television series on family law.  Grant said the legal profession tends to see Judge Brownstone as an entertaining educator who provides sound advice about legal processes. He said the judge has little to fear provided he stops short of giving legal advice on specific cases. "To the extent that his goal is to educate the public, I think the TV series will be a big tool. You’re not going to see him operating like a Judge Judy. I don’t think he is doing this as a shock talk show for ratings. He’s doing it as part of his role as a public educator. I don’t think there is anything wrong with demystifying the family-law process.”

August 2011

August 9, 2011 - Grant Gold is quoted in the article Hey Judge, where's my ruling? in the Toronto Star regarding his take on how to handle when judges delay rulings.  “It’s a really difficult judgment call,” said Grant. “As a lawyer, you want to be careful that you don’t sort of write the judge and say, ‘Oh, did you forget about us?’ Because you risk, at that point, angering the judge. So typically, you don’t do anything until it gets to the point where it’s really ridiculous or there’s some urgency.”   The only other “practical” solution, said Gold, is to speak with the senior regional judge.

August 2, 2011 - McCague Borlack's new 2011 Articling Students start today.  Big welcome to Samantha Share, Megan Mutcheson, Stefanie Vescio, Emily Zeppa, David Elmaleh, and Valarie-Marie Gagovski.

July 2011

July 25, 2011 - Grant Gold was appointed as Liaison from the ABA Section of Family Law to the CBA Family Law Section for the year 2011-12.

July 18, 2011 - Grant Gold is quoted in the article Ontario changes divorce protocol in the National Post further to the pilot program expanded on Monday to include all couples filing contested divorce proceedings in Ontario, in where each spouse will be given a sheet regarding the mandatory information session. Their contested divorce proceedings cannot move forward through the system until the form is stamped with confirmation of their attendance. Grant said he welcomes the latest rules, having seen first-hand as a volunteer session-leader that minds can, indeed, be changed. "On applicants’ night, they’re all kind of gung-ho because they started this whole thing and they want the divorce,” he said of the sessions in Toronto, which launched its own program within the Superior Court system several years ago. “On respondents’ night, you see people who are all uptight and cranky that they have to be there. But by the end of the two-hour session, you can see people’s shoulders go down…. You hear people saying their eyes were opened to different processes.”

June 2011

Grant Gold is quoted in the article In whose interest? in the upcoming National magazine further to the proposed Bill C-422 which would presume equal parenting rights after divorce.  "I’ve been to some of the fathers’ rights groups meetings, and this is what they all believe, that they should absolutely have equal time with their kids,” says Grant "But the reality is that even in most together families, there isn’t equal parenting time. In separated families, to suddenly impose something that doesn’t exist in intact families, on the one hand is wrong — and on the other, it doesn’t look at what’s best for children.”

May 2011

May 31, 2011 - MB welcomes this year’s summer law students: Jesse Bellam, Malak Nassereddine, Natalie Groen, Ricki Stone, Faizie Bagheri, Amanda Stellings, Valerie Stiso

May 16, 2011 - MB lawyers are in London and Madrid the week of May 16^th to meet our European affiliates and participate in seminars on international legal issues.

May 10, 2011 - Grant Gold and Alan Drimer, members of our Sports, Recreation and Resort Liability Practice Area, attended the National Ski Areas Association Conference in Carlsbad, California on May 4-7th, 2011. The conference included representatives of every major ski area in North America, and some from Europe. McCague Borlack LLP is the only Canadian Law firm to be a member of NSAA.

May 9, 2011 - The MB legal team is travelling this week to Sioux Lookout to attend First Nation ceremonies before the start of their six month trial.

May 6, 2011 - MB Lawyers attended a packed room for Canada Night at the 2011 RIMS (Risk Management Society) Conference in Vancouver, BC http://bit.ly/kzAlT0

April 2011

April 15, 2011 - Mark Mason, partner and head of McCague Borlack LLP’s subrogation and products liability practice groups, has been appointed co-chair of the Canadian chapter of the National Association of Subrogation Professionals (NASP).  NASP is the world’s largest insurance subrogation association and leader in subrogation education.

April 12, 2011 - Canadian Lawyer Magazine lists McCague Borlack LLP as a Top 5 Insurance Defence Boutique in their article A cut above, pt. II. The article continues on to say: McCague Borlack, established in 1994, has built its reputation through top-notch representation of insurance companies when the stakes are at their highest. For example, it obtained a dismissal of a multibillion-dollar class action claim on behalf of Zurich Insurance Co. Ltd. at the Ontario Court of Appeal in 2005’s David Polowin Real Estate Ltd. v. Dominion of Canada General Insurance Co. The 55-lawyer firm also represents prominent insurance companies like Lombard Canada Ltd. and ACE Canada. “I hire McCague Borlack on my most difficult of cases,” said one in-house counsel. “McCague is efficient, cost-effective, and results-driven.” See other Top 5 Firms.

March 2011

March 29, 2011 - McCague Borlack LLP was listed for the first time in the area of Dispute Resolution by Global Chambers, the legal directory that ranks the World’s Leading Lawyers. Listed as Key Individuals were Howard Borlack, Lisa La Horey and Doug McInnis. In responding to this honour founding partner Paul McCague stated “Although we do not seek publicity for our firm, it is gratifying to know that our excellent legal service to our clients is being recognized in the global business community.”

March 26, 2011 - Lorne Honickman, Rory Barnable and Lisa Chuyow appeared in the Supreme Court of Canada to present oral argument in Les editions Ecosociete v Banro.  This case deals with the issue of jurisdiction except in the case of libel law. This follows their successful appearance in the Ontario Court of Appeal where they argued one of the first cases dealing with the new test in Van Breda in the context of a libel claim. Following argument the Supreme Court of Canada reserved its decision.

March 21, 2011 - Howard Borlack, Lisa La Horey, and Sabine Kharabian presented oral argument in the Van Breda and Charron cases dealing with jurisdiction in the area of tort and contract. This follows their successful appearance before a five judge panel of the Ontario Court of Appeal where the Court dramatically changed  the law of jurisdiction in Ontario when it modifed  the Muscatt test. Following argument the Supreme Court of Canada reserved it’s decision.

January 2011 

NEW CANADIAN LEGISLATION ALERT - Canada Consumer Product Safety Act - December 14, 2010, the Parliament of Canada passed the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act (CCPSA). Royal Assent, the last step required in the creation of new law, was granted on December 15, 2010. It is anticipated that an accelerated implementation plan will be developed by the Federal Government in order to facilitate the CCPSA coming into force in the next few months. Full Alert

December 2010 

Lorne Honickman is quoted in an article It's just waffle in The Toronto Sun on December 5, 2010. A 31-year-old Oakville cook, cooked up a bright idea to show his displeasure at another rough hockey season Monday by deciding to (allegedly) fling some Eggo waffles out on the Air Canada Centre ice. “I can’t remember another case like this,” joked Lorne Honickman. “How the police determined there were reasonable grounds to lay a criminal charge, is very puzzling.” Full Article

November 2010

Lorne Honickman is quoted in an article Mayor of Aurora sues bloggers for defamation in The National Post on November 15, 2010. “The wild west, that’s what it’s like out there,” said Lorne Honickman, an expert in defamation law and a member of Toronto mayor-elect Rob Ford’s legal team. “The Internet is the world now. And courts haven’t even caught up with the ramifications, from a damage point of view, of what that means.” Full Article

September 2010

McCague Borlack has a video studio on the premises to record and view witness' evidence in preparation for examinations and trials.

Grant Gold is quoted in an article Tweet Truce - New divorce rules censor the tell-all on social media in The National Post on September 18. “The ease with which the message can be delivered, and the number of people it reaches, is what makes this an issue,” said Grant. “If we start to see more of this happening, then we might get lawyers talking about non-disclosure agreements more often than not.”  Full article

Lorne Honickman is quoted in an article Sex, lies and videotape shape debate on online defamation law in The Globe and Mail on September 17. “As soon as you start writing comments and opinions, you are like any other publisher,” Lorne said, “and you could end up being responsible for every word that you’ve said.”  Full Article

Congratulations to Lorne Honickman and Adam Dunlop who were successful in obtaining a $500,000 judgment for our plaintiff clients in a tough defamation case. For details on the case see the article Court vindicates former prison managers in The Toronto Star on September 12. Full Article

On September 13, 2010, Mark Mason is interviewed re: Subrogation as an afterthought by ILSTV, source for daily insurance news. See Video

August 2010

Grant Gold, the CBA's family law section chair, is quoted in an article CBA opposes equal parenting-time bill (C-422) in The Lawyers Weekly on August 20. Grant said "When you hear it on its face it sounds like 'Oh who wouldn't agree?' But the more you get into it, equal parenting means, at least to those groups, 50-50 time with each parent, and it really changes the focus from the best interests of the children, we think, to the best interests of the parent. And we are just concerned that the public get that message."  Full article (NOTE: you need subscription to TLW)

Congratulations to Jennifer Oliver, a member of McCague Borlack LLP, who placed second in an international short story writing contest!  The contestants had to submit a new short story every couple of weeks for months and were judged on each story.    There were writers from England and the US competing as well as from Canada and other countries.  The collection of stories from the contest will be published in the upcoming months.
 

July 2010

Gosia Bawolska, of the Marine Law group, has written the article The Impact of the new Pleasure Craft Operating Card. It is a brief history lesson comparing drivers’ licenses and the PCO Card, as well as some thoughts on the future.

Photos for the 12th Annual McCague Borlack LLP Golf Tournament supporting DareArts Foundation are available. For more information  on the event itself go to our Past Events page.
 

June 2010

Simon Barker counsel for the Marine Law group, gives a video overview of the Marine Law Practice group, which also hits on Transportation Law and includes such things as the birth of a ship, life of a ship and death of a ship.