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.

ALBERTA – Arbitration – Jurisdiction – Despite the competence-competence principle, courts may resolve a challenge to an arbitrator’s jurisdiction where it involves pure questions of law or questions of mixed fact and law that only require a superficial consideration of the evidence. Where there is a real prospect that referring a bona fide challenge to jurisdiction to the arbitrator would result in the challenge never being resolved, the court may resolve the issue.