Often the best way to pick a lawyer is by speaking with family and friends about their experience with a particular lawyer. If you are trying to choose a lawyer where you don’t have a friend or family member’s referral to the lawyer, the most important thing in my opinion is that you need to feel ‘comfortable’ with the lawyer you selected.

For cases that operate on contingency, you do have an opportunity to try visiting or speaking to a few different lawyers to determine who you trust or click with more. Take advantage of meeting multiple law firms to get a feel. It may seem like an extra step but it will help you compare.

Lastly, you can look a the history of Google Reviews to ascertain an overall feel and assessment of the firm. Google currently has the most trustworthy review system, whereas many other ‘local review’ websites are more manipulated with ‘fake’ reviewers.

Other preferences:

Some want their lawyer to be located downtown in a high-rise office tower and be dressed in a three-piece suit. If that’s what makes you feel comfortable and gives you a sense trust in your lawyer, then that’s where you should look for your lawyer. Alternatively, some folks find a smaller law firm where the lawyers are ‘approachable’ and give you a good first impression.

You want someone who is experienced in the field where you need help, will listen to you and work hard for you. Ultimately you should hire the lawyer who provides a sense of comfort and trust.

* Input from Ofee Injury Law.

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Yes there is, and it’s more than just preference, but let’s start there.

Condominiums or townhomes offer a different lifestyle than single family homes. The appeal includes:

* Location. Often inner-city neighborhood boast higher density properties.
* Security. Home owner security that includes the potential of locked public areas and parking, and the proximity of neighbours.
* Maintenance. Although the extent of management varies between properties, condo and townhome associations take care of general maintenance of the public areas, outdoor grounds, and overall building such as major plumbing and roofs.

Those who have no desire to manage upkeep, apart from their own dwelling, will be drawn to the shared common grounds lifestyle. However, it also means owners must acquiesce to the majority in the community for maintenance and major repairs. That means lack of control over costs and unforeseen circumstances.

Single family dwellings, on the other hand, allow the homeowner to decide how and who will do any upkeep or repairs. That also means responsibility for these expenses fall exclusively to the homeowner.

Size is another factor. More often than not, there is more square footage (space) in a single family dwelling, which makes them ideal for those who are future planners and intend to increase occupancy in the home. You get more bang for your buck sort of speak.

Just like any home, have an independent inspector visit the property and conduct an assessment.

Apart from personal preference and location, what are the legal aspects that differ between the two property types?

One of the critical aspects to consider before purchasing into a condo or townhome property that includes shared public spaces and building managers, and homeowner boards, is the health of the building and/or association as a whole. In the real-estate transaction there are extensive documents to review to ensure your potential transaction doesn’t have costly problems ongoing or upcoming. There are more documents and things to consider when buying an apartment/condo/townhome. Because of the additional pieces, getting an experienced lawyer to look over the paperwork is important. You don’t want to buy into a property only to discover you’ll be on the hook for special assessments because the reserve fund (the money on hand for repairs) is too low or non-existent.

Ultimately it is the responsibility of the home owner to make the final decision regarding the health of the building reserve fund, potential future upgrades, and the management of the building and association board. You can hire a lawyer to look over these docs and present you with an assessment of the overall health. That would go along way to ensure piece of mind when making a down payment on the largest purchase in your lifetime. To ignore this step could pose significant financial stresses in the longrun.

With notes from Taylor Real Estate Law.

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By the time the pleadings are closed, there will be a precise definition of the issues between the parties.

There are 3 fundamental principles of pleading:

a) Each party must plead the material facts on which he/she/it relies for the claim
or defence;

b) The material facts stated in the preceding pleading will be deemed to be admitted if not expressly denied or joined in issue by the other side; and

c) Any fresh matter must be specifically pleaded if it might have the effect of

(i) making the claim or defence in the preceding pleading not maintainable;
(ii) taking the opposite party by surprise; or
(iii) raising issues of fact not arising out of the preceding pleading.

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1. true crimes are usually more socially and morally condemned than regulatory offences.
2. regulatory offences are usually aimed at deterring harm to the public, rather than the individual.
3. regulatory offences are often part of a complex regulatory framework.
4. regulatory offences are not in the Criminal Code (R. v Wholesale Travel, 1993).

In the Canadian context, the most important distinction between regulatory offences and true crimes is the standard of fault (mens rea). For many reasons, including the lesser stigma, the lesser penalties, and the need for administrative efficiency, the courts may allow a lower threshold for regulatory offences than the usual subjective mens rea requirement needed for “true crimes”. In the past, many regulatory offences were “absolute liability” offences, meaning the Crown needed only to prove the actus reus, leaving the accused with no defence available. In the important case of R. v City of Sault Ste Marie, a third “compromise” position between absolute liability and full mens rea was invented: “strict liability”. In strict liability offences, there is prima facie liability assumed, however the accused then has the opportunity to show that he took all reasonable care, in which case the offence is innocent.

The current Canadian position vis-a-vis regulatory offences can be summarized as follows:

1. Strict liability is the default fault standard for regulatory offences.
2. Absolute liability only applies to regulatory offences where statute has made in explicitly clear that an absolute liability doctrine will prevail.
3. An offence that carries the possibility of imprisonment CAN NEVER be an absolute liability offence (see RE MVA Act BC, 1985).

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Some believe keeping an injury diary is a good way to keep track of the increasing severity of their injury overtime. This may sound like a good idea at the outset, but it turns out to work against the injured. Here’s why.

Quite simply, human behaviour is built in such a way that creating new habits is exceptionally hard. Sometimes it takes upwards of two years to actually make something a habit (like brushing your teeth).

If you have an injury diary you may enter diligently for a couple of months, but after a year or two you’ll notice a trend–you don’t enter as often or as detailed as you used to.

In litigation that will work to your disadvantage because through the diary it look as if you’re getting better, but in reality you may be getting worse but you just didn’t record the injury properly.

The best way to keep track of your progress (or regress) is to be completely clear and concise disclosing everything to your doctor and therapist when visiting.

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In a major reform, Alberta is replacing the traditional tort-based auto‑insurance system with a Care‑First no-fault model, slated to take effect on January 1, 2027. (Alberta.ca )

The change is purported to deliver faster compensation and more comprehensive medical care, yet comes at the cost of significantly limiting Albertans’ rights to sue at-fault parties for injuries.

Expanded Benefits Without Lawsuits

Under the Care‑First model, all individuals injured in a collision—drivers, passengers, cyclists, pedestrians—can access medical and rehabilitation benefits without needing to demonstrate fault or go to court. The current system, where medically necessary care is capped at $50,000 over two years, the new model offers unlimited lifetime coverage for treatment that provides a measurable benefit.

Income replacement under the Care‑First model also improves, offering up to 90% of net income (capped at about $120,000 gross) until age 65—far exceeding the current maximum of approximately $600 per week for just two years.

The centerpiece of the new compensation structure is a lump-sum permanent impairment benefit. Amounts vary depending on injury severity: for serious injuries, benefits range between roughly $1,000–$187,000, while for catastrophic injuries, payouts may reach $295,000 (or up to $298,520 in some designations). (https://www.insuranceinstitute.ca/fr/Insights-And-Publications/CanadianUnderwriterArticles/items/2025/08/07/What-we-know-about-court-access-dispute-resolution-in-Albertas-Care-First-insurance-system/)

Additionally, claimants with catastrophic injuries may receive monthly personal care assistance of up to $6,781, and up to $5,671 for severe but non-catastrophic injuries. The trade off that significantly benefits insurance companies (who lobbied for the change) is the drastic limitation on Albertans’ ability to sue at-fault drivers. The right to court action is preserved only if the at-fault party is convicted of serious Criminal Code or Traffic Safety Act offenses (e.g., impaired or dangerous driving). In most other situations, litigation is barred—even in cases of serious or catastrophic injury.

To replace the tort-based legal process, Alberta’s new system will include an independent tribunal—the Alberta Automobile Care‑First Tribunal—through which injured individuals can appeal insurers’ decisions about care or benefits. This mechanism functions as administrative oversight rather than judicial recourse.

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It goes without saying, nowadays there are fewer and fewer people retiring with a mound of cash. Some of our elderly folks need to work well into their seventies, and even then they’ll end up racking up debt to stay afloat.

In a will a Executor is appointed over the estate to divvy everything up. But what happens when you have more debts than assets?

Well because wills are essentially gifts in kind you can’t really end up with a loss. Imagine that, grandma gives you her VISA bill for Christmas…… That’s not a gift. (That’s a hilarious grandma but not a Christmas gift, at least not in our house).

What will happen if there are debts against the estate is those creditors will be offered a pro rated share of the estate, and the remainder given to the beneficiaries. If the estate can’t cover debts, the estate would declare bankruptcy, but the Executor (recipients in the will) are never on the hook for the debts of someone else.

So go ahead, rack up your credit card bills before you die, nobody will have to pay…..Nah, just kidding, that’s terrible.

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-Filartiga: two Paraguayan citizens brought suit against Paraguayan police chief who was also living in USA. Plaintiffs alleged that the defendant had tortured and murdered a member of their family. The district court dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, holding that the law of nations does not regulate a states treatment of its own citizens. The US Court of Appeal reversed holding that the contemporary law of nations had expanded to prohibit state sanctioned torture. Court looked to universal declaration of human rights.

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The Elements of a Negligence Action –

Remember, the plaintiff usually has the burden of proving the first five, while the defendant has the burden of proving the sixth.

1. Duty of Care (limiting step) – there are policy considerations that can lead to the finding and non finding of a duty of care; this duty of care exists when it is reasonably foreseeable that your actions will have an effect on another person.

2. Standard of Care and its Breach – in most (but not all) negligence actions, the standard of care is the reasonable person standard .

3. Causation – has the breach of the duty of care caused an injury to the plaintiff? But for the breach of the duty of care, would the injury have occurred?

4. Remoteness of Damages (limiting step) – also called legal causation; if the damages are found to be too remote from the breach of the standard of care, then the plaintiff will not win the case.

5. Actual Loss – without loss, the plaintiff will not be successful (as opposed to intentional torts)

6. Defences – voluntary assumption of risk, illegality

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