Publications

May 1, 2014

Employees and the Cost of Justice: The Court of Appeal of Québec concludes that a complaint pursuant to section 124 of the Act Respecting Labour Standards (the Act) is admissible despite the existence of an internal arbitration procedure

THE FACTSThe complainant, a non-unionized employee, was hired by McGill University (hereinafter the “University”) in 1987 to be a member of the administrative staff. After working as an administrative assistant since 1994, she was dismissed by the University on June 30, 2009 for fraud. The (…)

May 1, 2014

January 1, 2015: no more filling chillers with CFCs

INTRODUCTIONQuebec regulations create numerous obligations in connection with equipment that poses a risk to the environment. Replacing PCB-containing transformers, for example, or having high-risk oil and gas equipment inspected. Regulatees may be required to file reports, maintain registers or (…)

May 1, 2014

Heavy burden for employers respecting mitigation of damages for lost salary: following dismissal, an employee who makes no effort to mitigate his damages may still be entitled to an indemnity

The Court of Appeal recently reviewed the scope of the duty of employees to mitigate their damages for lost salary pursuant to section 128(2) of the Act respecting labour standards (ARLS).1In this case, the Court of Appeal allowed in part the appeal of an employee following a decision of the (…)

May 1, 2014

Labelling of your products in Canada, and particularly Quebec: don't forget to translate!

Our clients from outside the province of Quebec often ask us the following questions: what are the linguistic labelling requirements in Canada, and particularly Quebec? There are several statutes and regulations governing labelling in Quebec and Canada. The following is a summary of some of the (…)

May 1, 2014

Proposed General Anti-treaty Shopping Rule : Private Investment Funds Will Need to Play it Safe

LAVERY: A LEADER IN MONTREAL IN THE PRIVATE EQUITY, VENTURE CAPITAL AND INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INDUSTRY Creating and setting up private equity and venture capital funds are complex initiatives requiring specialized legal resources. There are very few law firms offering such services in Quebec. Lavery (…)

May 1, 2014

Registration Requirements of Venture Capital and Private Equity Fund Managers in Canada: A Favourable Regulatory Framework

LAVERY: A LEADER IN MONTREAL IN THE PRIVATE EQUITY, VENTURE CAPITAL AND INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INDUSTRY Creating and setting up private equity and venture capital funds are complex initiatives requiring specialized legal resources. There are very few law firms offering such services in Quebec. Lavery (…)

May 1, 2014

Bill 1 : New Requirements for Public Calls for Tenders

LAVERY: A LEADER IN MONTREAL IN THE PRIVATE EQUITY, VENTURE CAPITAL AND INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INDUSTRY Creating and setting up private equity and venture capital funds are complex initiatives requiring specialized legal resources. There are very few law firms offering such services in Quebec. Lavery (…)

April 1, 2014

Does the federal pension deemed trust outrank a perfected security interest in the context of CCAA proceedings? The Superior Court of Québec weighs in

In the last few years, pension deemed trust issues have been a subject of debate before the courts. The Supreme Court of Canada itself addressed some of these issues in the Indalex case.1 On November 20, 2013, the Honourable Justice Mark Schrager of the Superior Court of Québec rendered an important (…)

April 1, 2014

Overlapping Insurance Policies: The Court of Appeal of Ontario toes the line!

On January 16 last, the Supreme Court of Canada refused to grant leave to appeal by Lombard following a judgment rendered on June 20, 2013 by the Ontario Court of Appeal.1This decision deals with the issue of overlapping excess and umbrella policies.THE FACTSIn January 1995, an apartment building (…)

April 1, 2014

Trademarks in the English language on public signs and posters

On April 9 last, the Superior Court of Québec issued its judgement1 on a motion for a declaratory judgment pertaining to trademarks in the English language on public signs and posters. The applicants, Magasin Best Buy Ltée, Costco Wholesale Canada Ltd, Gap (Canada) Inc., Old Navy (Canada) Inc., (…)

April 1, 2014

Quebec Government Tables Bill to Implement its Pension Plan Action Plan

In our January 2014 bulletin, we provided an overview of the Quebec government’s action plan aimed at [Translation] “correcting and restoring the situation of pension plans”. Also in that bulletin, we noted that in February 2014, the government was planning to introduce the first (…)

April 1, 2014

The Superior Court of Québec Authorizes the Continuation of Care on a Comatose Patient despite the Refusal of her Parents

On April 1, 2014, the Superior Court issued an interesting decision respecting consent to care1. The Quebec City CHU petitioned the Superior Court in order to be authorized to provide care for a 60-day period to a patient despite the refusal of her parents.On March 14, the 22 years old patient (…)

March 1, 2014

The Theratechnologies Case

On February 20, 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada allowed the motion for leave to appeal the judgment of the Court of Appeal of Québec rendered in the case of Theratechnologies inc. v. 121851 Canada Inc.1. In this unanimous judgment, the Court of Appeal decided that a judgment authorizing a class (…)