Canada’s Top Court to Hear Enforcement Dispute
By Stephen G.A. Pitel, Western University The Supreme Court of Canada has granted leave in H.M.B. Holdings Limited v Attorney General of Antigua and Barbuda. Information about the appeal is available
About Stephen Pitel
Professor, Western University
Entries by Stephen Pitel
Uber Arbitration Clause Unconscionable
/1 Comment/in Views/by Stephen PitelIn 2017 drivers working under contract for Uber in Ontario launched a class action. They alleged that under Ontario law they were employees entitled to various benefits Uber was not providing. In response, Uber sought to stay the proceedings on the basis of an arbitration clause in the standard-form contract with each driver. Under its […]
Jurisdiction to Garnish Funds in Foreign Bank Account
/in Views/by Stephen PitelBy Stephen G.A. Pitel, Faculty of Law, Western University Instrubel, N.V., a Dutch corporation, has been attempting in litigation in Quebec to garnish assets of the Republic of Iraq. The difficult issue has been the nature of the assets sought to be garnished and where they are, as a matter of law, located. The assets […]
Indigenous Claims to Foreign Land: Update from Canada
/in Views/by Stephen PitelBy Stephen G.A. Pitel, Faculty of Law, Western University In 2013 two Innu First Nations sued, in the Superior Court of Quebec, two mining companies responsible for a mega-project consisting of multiple open-pit mines near Schefferville, Quebec and Labrador City, Newfoundland and Labrador. The Innu asserted a right to the exclusive use and occupation of […]
Claims Against Corporate Defendant Founded on Customary International Law Can Proceed in Canada
/in Views/by Stephen PitelBy Stephen G.A. Pitel, Faculty of Law, Western University Eritrean mine workers who fled from that country to British Columbia sued the mine’s owner, Nevsun Resources Ltd. They sought damages for various torts including battery, false imprisonment and negligence. They also sought damages for breaches of customary international law. Their core allegation was that as […]
Staying Proceedings under the Civil Code of Quebec
/1 Comment/in Views/by Stephen PitelWritten by Professor Stephen G.A. Pitel, Western University The decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in R.S. v P.R., 2019 SCC 49 (available
What Does it Mean to Submit to a Foreign Forum?
/in Views/by Stephen PitelThe meaning of submission was the central question, though by no means the only one, in the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Barer v Knight Brothers LLC, 2019 SCC 13 (available
Ontario Court Holds Law of Bangladesh Applies to Rana Plaza Collapse Claim
/1 Comment/in News/by Stephen PitelThe Court of Appeal for Ontario has upheld a decision of the Superior Court of Justice dismissing a $2 billion claim against Loblaws relating to the 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Savar, Bangladesh. In Das v George Weston Limited, 2018 ONCA 1053 (available
New Book: Nineteenth-Century Perspectives on Private International Law
/in News/by Stephen PitelRoxana Banu of Western University has published Nineteenth-Century Perspectives on Private International Law, a new book in the Oxford University Press series on the history and theory of international law. Information from the publisher can be found
Double Counting the Place of the Tort?
/1 Comment/in Views/by Stephen PitelIn common law Canada there is a clear separation between the question of a court having jurisdiction (jurisdiction simpliciter) and the question of a court choosing whether to exercise or stay its jurisdiction. One issue discussed in the Supreme Court of Canada’s recent decision in Haaretz.com v Goldhar (available