The COVID-19 pandemic forced many employers and their employees to abruptly adopt work-from-home arrangements. Although the relaunch of the Alberta economy is underway, employers and employees have become accustomed to remote work and “Zoom&rd...

On Monday, July 6, 2020, the Government of Alberta tabled Bill 30, the Health Statutes Amendment Act, 2020. This proposed legislation amends a number of existing Acts, including the Alberta Health Professions Act. The Health Professions Ac...

Health care organizations have had to adapt quickly during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to managing an unknown disease and focusing on patient care, day to day operational life has changed- videoconferencing, fit for work screening, and l...

Over the last seven years the Field Law Community Fund Program has awarded funds to support 96 organizations and charitable initiatives throughout Alberta and the Northwest Territories. With $550,000 donated in support of these local charities to da...

As we reported in April, the Government of Alberta previously announced an extension of the temporary layoff period in Alberta’s Employment Standards Code (the “Code”) from 60 days to 120 days.Recently, the Government of Alberta in...

Update: In June 2020, as expected, both The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency ("Access Copyright") and York University have filed applications for leave to appeal the FCA decision to the Supreme Court of Canada. Original Post: April 2...

Enforcing rental arrears and other tenant breaches under a Lease are an important aspect of a Landlord’s business and recently proclaimed amendments to the Mobile Home Sites Tenancies Act are going to have a direct impact on how Landlord&rsquo...

On April 1, 2019, portions of Bill 21: An Act to Protect Patients came into force in Alberta and amended the treatment of sexually based regulatory offences by colleges and regulators under the Health Professions Act, RSA 2000, c H-7 (the “HPA...

The Alberta Court of Appeal confirms the broad nature of professional misconduct and that deference must be given to tribunals assessing a member’s conduct. The Alberta Court of Appeal’s decision in Al-Ghamdi v. College of Physicians ...

The Alberta government is moving forward with Bill 23, the Commercial Tenancies Protection Act (“CTPA”). The Bill was tabled in the Legislative Assembly on June 16, 2020 and passed First Reading the same day. This is a government Bi...

The Federal Government recently announced an extension to the Canada Emergency Relief Benefit (CERB). The program, set to expire at the end of June, will now be available to support Canadians unable to work due to the COVID-19 pandemic till the end ...

As endless as these past few months have seemed, it was not so long ago that most workplaces had to abruptly wrestle with how to scale down and make sometimes drastic changes to the way that their work gets done in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic....

As restrictions begin to lift, many employers are recalling employees from temporary layoff. In some cases, employees are responding to the request to return to work by resigning. As a result, many employers are wondering whether they are complicit ...

An insurer was held not to have waived a policy breach and was not estopped from relying on it to deny coverage where it learned of the breach after having begun defending the claim against its insured, even though evidence of the breach existed bef...

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice struck claims brought by an insured against an insurer’s disability claim specialist and an appeals consultant in their personal capacities as employees after his LTD benefits were terminated by them becau...

The ransom paid in response to a ransomware attack was held not to be covered under the “Computer Coverage” of an insurance policy because the attack and the ransom demand did not amount to “fraud”, as opposed to a mere theft...

The Court set out how to analyze whether or not the exacerbation of pre-existing injury would exceed the minor injury threshold under Ontario legislation, which provides guidance for the same issue under Alberta’s minor injury cap. Mann v. Je...

An employer who is innocent of negligence or other misconduct can be vicariously liable for the tort of intrusion upon seclusion based on a data breach committed by one of its employees.  Grossman v. Nissan Canada, 2019 ONSC 6180, per...

Courts are granting opposed orders for video hearings, including discoveries by video conference as necessary in the modern age, especially in light of restricted court operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.   Arconti v. Smith, 2020 ONSC...

An employer may be vicariously liable for a data breach caused by the tort of an employee depending on the circumstances.WM Morrison Supermarkets plc v. Various Claimants, 2020 UKSC 12, per Lord Reed rev’g 2017 EWHC 3113 (Q.B.) and 2018 EWCA C...

Alberta’s Ministry of Justice and Solicitor General has announced a process for remote witnessing and signing of wills, enduring power of attorneys, and personal directives during this time of public emergency. Temporary amendments have b...

In a bid to help combat the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), Alberta has become the first Canadian province to launch a contact tracing app to track community transmission of COVID-19.Alberta released the app, ABTraceTogether, on May 1, 2...

On May 13, 2020 we hosted a webinar about pandemic-related work refusals as Alberta and other governments enable businesses and other organizations to reopen and call employees back to work. The most frequently asked question was: What do I do with ...

This week, as this article went to press, several major Canadian and American universities announced plans to maintain classes online when the fall semester starts in September. Other universities and colleges are making plans to bring students...

The Alberta government announced its "safely staged COVID-19 relaunch" and you’re thinking it’s time to call your laid-off or working-from-home crews back to work. Or you’re carrying on providing essential services and th...

Professional regulators continue to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic while their public interest mandates carry-on.   Field Law’s Professional Regulatory group will host a virtual lunch time roundtable discussion focusing on a few ...

The burden of proof for economic loss (past and future loss of income) for a minor plaintiff with no established career path at the time of the accident is only that of a real and substantial possibility, as opposed to the balance of probabilities.M...

Where the driver of a vehicle rented by his employer injured another worker on the job, the action against the lessor of the vehicle was dismissed because, although the owner was not immune under the Workers’ Compensation Act and was exposed i...

An Ontario court held that under an all-risk policy the “physical damage” requirement for coverage may be met by a loss of use, which may have some application for COVID-19 business interruption claims. MDS Inc. v. Factory Mutual Insura...

The Ontario Court of Appeal held that a trial judge erred in refusing to admit a defendant’s video surveillance evidence in a personal injury action but concluded that had the video evidence been admitted it would not have affected the jury&rs...

For an auto insurer to have any place in the priority list of insurers in a rental/leased car situation, its policy must provide coverage to a relevant insured. Ontario Corporation Number 1009329 (Enterprise Rent-A-Car) v Intact Insurance Comp...

For the purposes of determining the priority of insurers in the overlapping coverage situation with rental vehicles, the Court must first determine who the “lessee” is. This may not always be determined by the rental agreement alone, esp...

The Alberta Court of Appeal found that the territorial limitation provisions in the standard Alberta auto policy apply to the entire policy, such that if the insured is injured or killed in a jurisdiction other than Canada or the United States, ther...

A claimant who is the victim of a data breach and who has suffered only mental distress or potential future loss such as actual fraud or identity theft lacks standing to sue for such losses.Li c. Equifax Inc., 2019 QCCS 4340, per Bison, J.C.S. ...