Independent Contractor: To Be or Not to Be – That is the Question
As an employment lawyer, I am often approached by clients on the issue of “independent contractors versus employees”. Corporate clients look to use independent contractors, rather than employees, to perform work more cheaply and with more flexibility – without costs such as CPP, EI, EHT, WSI…
Continue reading the post titled Independent Contractor: To Be or Not to Be – That is the QuestionWill the SCC grant leave in Smith v Inco?
Will the Supreme Court of Canada grant leave to Ellen Smith to appeal the decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal rejecting her class action against Inco for the historic nickel contamination of soil in Port Colborne?
Continue reading the post titled Will the SCC grant leave in Smith v Inco?Compost v soil: which is “clean”?
The oddest things breach MOE soil cleanup standards. Compost, for example.
Continue reading the post titled Compost v soil: which is “clean”?Offshore wind moving ahead… in the US
Off shore wind turbines in designated Wind Energy Areas have cleared a major environmental review, according to the US Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).
Continue reading the post titled Offshore wind moving ahead… in the USYOU’RE FIRED…I’M QUITTING! WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
We’re all familiar with the classic scenario when the response to a termination by an employer prompts the response, “You can’t fire me. I quit!”. But after the dust settles from the initial blow-up, what happens next? A recent case from the British Columbia Court of Appeal is instructive. I…
Continue reading the post titled YOU’RE FIRED…I’M QUITTING! WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?Alternative fuels breach zoning?
In St. Mary’s Cement v. Clarington (Municipality), 2011 ONSC 4631, an industrially zoned, operating cement company proposed to supplement its fuel with alternative fuel derived from recycled materials. Alternative fuels are used as fuel extensively in US and UK cement kilns, but they are not…
Continue reading the post titled Alternative fuels breach zoning?Municipal liability for flooding?
As climate change increases the intensity of storms, and as insurers become more reluctant to insure basements that are known to flood, we notice more and more lawsuits against municipalities for basement floods. Municipalities generally benefit from statutory immunities against lawsuits in …
Continue reading the post titled Municipal liability for flooding?The Limits to Growth: looking good at 40?
Forty years ago, The Limits to Growth explored what would happen if we allowed the world’s population and industry to continue to grow rapidly. They compared humanity’s use of energy and materials to the globe’s long-term, sustainable capacity, and concluded that urgent ac…
Continue reading the post titled The Limits to Growth: looking good at 40?Class actions for historic contamination
Class actions for historic contamination: Sydney Tar Ponds and Smith v. Inco The class action by neighbours of the notorious tar ponds in Sydney, Nova Scotia, is going ahead, although neighbours of Inco’s Port Colborne plant have lost theirs.
Continue reading the post titled Class actions for historic contaminationImportant New Privacy Ruling: What on earth is “intrusion upon seclusion”?
I’ve often said that my job is mostly about people behaving badly at work, so the fact situations underlying the cases I read are often all too human in nature. Consider the case of Winnie, who was fighting with her common-law husband about money. She wasn’t convinced he was actually paying…
Continue reading the post titled Important New Privacy Ruling: What on earth is “intrusion upon seclusion”?