ONTARIO – Appeals – Standing – Where a party’s non-lawyer representative was permitted to represent the appellants and make submissions on their behalf at trial, and no challenge was brought either prior to or during the trial, it was an error for the trial judge to strike the appellants’ statement of defence based on a lack of standing. The trial judge had discretion under Rule 2.03 of the Rules of Civil Procedure to dispense with compliance with the Rule 15.01(1) requirement that the appellants be represented by a lawyer.

ONTARIO – Appeal – Standard of Review – Contractual Interpretation – Absent error, the application judge’s interpretation of a contract is owed considerable appellate deference and is reviewable on a standard of “palpable and overriding error”.

CANADA – ONTARIO – Administrative Law – Judicial review is available for matters not covered by a statutory right of appeal. Judicial review is available to challenge allegedly unreasonable or procedurally unfair decisions of administrative tribunals despite a limited statutory right of appeal on questions of law.

ALBERTA – Injunction – There are limited circumstances in which an injunction can be used to stop a beneficiary from drawing on an Irrevocable Letter of Credit. A strong prima facie case is required.

ONTARIO – Interlocutory Injunctions – Contracts – Sale of Software Solutions Business – Restrictive Covenants – Where a seller of a business commenced a competing business in breach of a non-competition provision, the Court held the covenant to be reasonable in the circumstances. The RJR-MacDonald test for interlocutory injunctions was met and the interlocutory injunction was granted.

ONTARIO – Arbitration – Recognition and Enforcement of Award under ICAA, 2017 and UNCITRAL Model Law, Art. 36(1) – The refusal of a Chinese Arbitral Tribunal to permit appraisal evidence after the evidence portion of the arbitration was completed was not a basis to refuse recognition and enforcement of the Arbitral Award in Ontario. The Arbitral Tribunal’s decision about procedural matters was entitled to deference.