Newfoundland and Labrador suffered back-to-back legal setbacks in its long-running energy feud with Hydro-Québec after Quebec courts held that the provincially-owned utility was under no obligation to renegotiate a controversial 1969 agreement and that it was entitled to purchase all but a fraction of the power generated by Churchill Falls power plant.
The Quebec Ministry of Transport was ordered to pay a subcontractor $1.6 million for roadwork even though it had shown signs of premature wear and tear after the Quebec Court of Appeal held that the subcontractor did not face a warranty of durability.
In a ruling that provides guidance over contractual notions such as obligation of result, performance of work and warranty of durability, the Quebec appeal court reaffirms a contractor’s positive obligation to provide information to third parties, according to experts in contract and construction law.
The mother of a child who was the victim of discrimination based on a handicap was awarded $7,500 in moral damages by the Quebec Court of Appeal in a ruling that reaffirms and advances the rights of parents, according to educational and human rights lawyers.
In a closely-watched ruling by the province’s educational sector, the Montreal School Commission was also ordered to pay an equal amount in moral damages to the child, who is afflicted with Down syndrome, after the appeal court found that it discriminated against him when it failed to implement necessary accommodations to teach him in the first two years of high school.
However the appeal court also found that the school commission did not act in a discriminatory manner when it decided that it would be in the best interests of the child, given his special needs, if he pursued his studies in a specialized school rather than a regular school.
Quebec government lawyers and notaries, forced back to work after Canada’s longest public sector strike, won a legal battle against the provincial government after the Quebec Court of Appeal held that the government discriminated against jurists on maternity leave.
The Quebec Court of Appeal upheld a ruling that certified a class-action lawsuit following an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in Quebec City in 2012 that is believed to have contributed to 14 deaths and lead 181 others to become ill from bacteria found to be in a cooling tower of a downtown office building.
Nearly six months after 20 Revenue Quebec officials raided the Montreal offices of Uber Canada Inc. as part of a tax investigation, the popular ride-sharing service won a legal battle against the provincial taxman after the Quebec Court of Appeal overturned a lower court ruling and held that the seized evidence must be sealed.
A class action against an automobile manufacturer that was dismissed by a lower court was partially overturned by the Quebec Court of Appeal after it held that Mazda Canada Inc. failed to disclose “important information” to consumers in a timely manner.
Revenue Quebec was ordered to pay $2.4 million, including $1 million in punitive damages, to a Montreal business after the Quebec Court of Appeal found that the provincial fiscal authority abused its powers and acted maliciously and in bad faith.
Tobacco companies suffered a second legal setback in less than a month after the Quebec Court of Appeal ordered two cigarette makers to set aside nearly $1 billion in security, the largest ever in the province’s history, to ensure that money is available to pay victims who won a landmark $15.5 billion class action lawsuit earlier this year.
Confusion surrounding the legal standing of Quebec’s assisted dying legislation has prompted the Quebec College of Physicians to urge its members to be prudent before agreeing to euthanize a consenting patient until the Quebec Court of Appeal hears an appeal on a Superior Court decision that suspended key articles of the historic legislation.
“We are suggesting that doctors wait until the Quebec Court of Appeal examines the issue,” said Dr. Charles Bernard, the president and executive director of the body that regulates the province’s physicians. “We’re not saying that physicians shouldn’t do it but we are telling them to be prudent given the legal imbroglio around this issue.”
The federal government’s tough-on-crime agenda suffered another blow after the Quebec Court of Appeal ruled that a legislative amendment slipped into the 2012 omnibus bill that effectively ended mandatory parole board hearings following a suspension, termination or revocation of parole or statutory release was of no force in the province.
