Jump To: Table of Contents | Civil Decisions | Short Civil Decisions Good afternoon. Following are this week’s summaries of the Court of Appeal for Ontario for the week of July 16, 2021. Continue Reading Topics covered this week included several family law decisions relating to custody and access, relocation and spousal support and labour law (duty to bargain in good faith). Wishing everyone an enjoyable weekend. John Polyzogopoulos Blaney McMurtry LLP 416.593.2953 Email Table of Contents Civil Decisions Society of United Professionals v. New Horizon System Solutions, 2021 ONCA 503 Keywords: Labour Law, Administrative Law, Judicial Review, Reasonableness, Collective…
The Iowa Supreme Court will hear appeals in the coming term on the question of whether the State of Iowa or the federal government has jurisdiction over two criminal cases involving Native American members of the Tama Indian Settlement in Tama County. The cases are State v. Bear (20-0401) and State v. Cungtion (20-0409). (Go to On Brief’s Cases in the Pipeline page to read the briefs filed in these cases under the “Screened for Supreme Court” tab.) State v. Bear was originally scheduled to be submitted without oral argument in March but has been held over for the 2021-22…
What is the remedy in an administrative appeal when the fact-finder doesn’t do its job by making findings of fact to explain its decision? As the Law Court recently reaffirmed in Fair Elections Portland, Inc. v. City of Portland, the proper remedy is generally a remand for further proceedings. Fair Elections Portland involved a Rule 80B challenge relating to a citizen-initiated change to a municipal charter.  Under Maine law, charter “amendments” and charter “revisions” are treated differently.  The former must be submitted directly to the voters, while the latter can only be submitted to voters upon recommendation of a…
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Appellants’ and appellees’ amici had similar won-lost records overall in criminal cases from 2010 to 2020 – appellants won two-thirds of the time, and appellees’ amici won 69.23% of their cases. Amicus briefs remained very (very) rare in criminal cases over the past eleven years, however.  All appellants’ amici in criminal procedure, sentencing law and habeas corpus cases wound up on the winning side.  Appellants’ amici in juvenile justice cases won two-thirds of the time, while appellants’ amici in constitutional law cases won only one-third of their cases. Appellees’ amici in con law cases, on the other hand, struck out,…
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Between 2010 and 2020, 212 amicus briefs have been filed at the Court in civil cases.  Briefs supporting appellants have been on the winning side in 71.43% of cases, while briefs supporting appellees have prevailed in only 29.07%. All appellants’ amici in four subjects prevailed: workers compensation, commercial law, property law and environmental law.  87.88% of appellants’ amici in tort cases won and 80% of domestic relations and civil procedure appellants’ amici did.  Two-thirds won in constitutional law and employment law.  Only 53.13% of appellants’ amici in government and administrative law won and only half in tax law did. None…
Jump To: Table of Contents | Civil Decisions | Short Civil Decisions Good afternoon. Following are this week’s summaries of the Court of Appeal for Ontario for the week of July 5, 2021. Continue Reading Topics covered this week included civil forfeiture of proceeds of unlawful activity, regulated professions, family law, breach of fiduciary duty in a partnership context, and stay pending appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. Wishing everyone an enjoyable weekend. John Polyzogopoulos Blaney McMurtry LLP 416.593.2953 Email Table of Contents Civil Decisions Mahtani v. Mistry, 2021 ONCA 492 Keywords: Family Law, Spousal Support, Child Support, Income…
I’m still trying to wrap my head around SCOVA’s recent opinion in Lucas v. Riverhill Poultry, Inc. Lucas seems to say that a plaintiff who fails to move the trial court to reconsider an interlocutory ruling has waived the issue for appeal. That strikes me as patently wrong–and not in an academic way, but in a way that will cause real-world problems. So I’m going to try to work my way through this. Follow along and tell me what I’m missing. Lucas follows a defense verdict in a motor-vehicle-accident case. A farm-use truck owned by Riverhill Poultry ran off I-81, killing…
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After more than a year of remote oral arguments, the Supreme Court of North Carolina is ready for some face-to-face time.  Barring a COVID-19 resurgence, both the Justices and advocates will be back in the Justice Building during the week of August 30, 2021 for oral arguments. In a change from pre-pandemic practice, specific argument times are assigned to each case being heard.  For example, on days when five cases are scheduled to be heard, the assigned timeslots are 9:30 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 1:45 p.m., and 3:00 p.m. One benefit is that advocates and their clients do not…
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Between 2000 and 2009, appellants’ amici wrote 141 amicus briefs while respondents’ amici wrote 90.  The margin in winning percentage between the two sides was almost exactly the same as on the civil side.  Appellants’ amici won 68.09% of the time, while respondents’ amici won 43.33% of their cases. Leaving aside the minor players – one appellants’ amici each in property crimes, violent crimes, driving offenses and financial crimes and four in cases involving drug offenses – the leading area of law was habeas corpus, where 92.31% of appellants’ amici wound up on the winning side.  Appellants’ amici in sentencing…
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This week, we’re reviewing data for civil cases between 2000 and 2009, looking at two questions: are amicus briefs supporting appellants or respondents more often on the winning side; and in which areas of law do appellants’ and respondents’ amici have the best (and worst) winning percentages? For the years 2000 through 2009, 951 amicus briefs were filed supporting appellants and 788 were filed supporting respondents.  Appellants’ amici won 63.09% of their cases, while respondents’ amici won only 39.85%. Leaving aside three successful appellants’ amici in wills and estates law, the leading areas for appellants were arbitration (92.59% winning percentage),…