Civil & Commercial Litigation
Civil litigation is the name for court disputes that are non-criminal in nature. Stevensons is well known for its expertise in civil litigation. Indeed, two of Stevensons’ four partners have been certified by the Law Society of Upper Canada as specialists in civil litigation.
At Stevensons, we pride ourselves on being classic barristers. This means we are comfortable in any court or other forum where disputes get resolved. There are many sub-categories in civil litigation and we highlight seven main ones in Stevensons’ practice.
Commercial Litigation
Commercial litigation often involves contractual disputes between arms-length businesses or internal disputes between a company’s shareholders/partners. All of our lawyers practice commercial litigation on a regular basis. Stevensons’ lawyers are comfortable improving a client’s position to a point where the matter can settle favourably or, where necessary, take a dispute to trial. Stevensons is regularly involved in multi-million dollar commercial litigation.
Real Estate
Parallel to Stevensons’ expertise in commercial litigation is its expertise in real estate litigation. Many of the commercial disputes in which Stevensons is retained relate to the purchase and sale of land. Stevensons’ expertise in real estate litigation, however, transcends contractual disputes and covers every facet of real estate law. Colin Stevenson taught property law and municipal law at Osgoode Hall Law School in 1985 and then practised municipal law at a large firm before taking up litigation. He has argued cases and published extensively in the real estate litigation field ever since. He has mentored all of Stevensons’ current lawyers in real estate litigation, which comprises a material component of Stevensons’ law practice. Stevensons is fortunate to act for numerous “blue chip” builders and developers throughout southern Ontario.
Construction Litigation
Stevensons’ lawyers act on multi-million dollar construction litigation as well as construction disputes of a more routine nature. As counsel to numerous “blue chip” builder/developer clients, we often act for the property owner in a construction dispute. However, Stevensons has also acted for chartered banks and contractors.
Employment Litigation
Corporations are often involved in employment disputes with individual employees or, if the employer is unionized, unionized employees. Stevensons does not act in union disputes, but does act for employers involved in employment disputes with non-unionized employees. As a general rule, these disputes involve an employee who has been terminated and claims to have been wrongfully dismissed. Stevensons also acts in employment related human rights’ cases.
Administrative Law
Administrative law is the area of law dedicated to decision-making by tribunals that are not courts of justice. Examples include labour boards, Tarion Corporation new home adjudications, employment standards disputes and human rights decisions. Generally speaking, administrative law involves cases where a party who receives a negative decision from an administrative tribunal challenges that decision before a court of law. Stevensons’ lawyers have extensive experience in administrative law and one of our partners, Richard Macklin, is an adjudicator with the Licence Appeal Tribunal of Ontario. Stevensons is also one of the law firms that acts as independent legal counsel to the College of Chiropractors of Ontario and as counsel to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. As counsel to the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth, Stevensons is actively involved in Coroner’s Inquests and acted as counsel on a recent landmark administrative law decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Divisional Court, in Smith v. Porter (Judicial Review) 2011 ONSC 2844.
Appeals
Each year, Stevensons is involved in appeal cases of provincial and national importance. Stevensons’ lawyers act on appeals from cases they are involved in at the lower court level and also on matters where a different law firm acted in the court below. In addition to acting on appeals before Ontario’s appellate courts, Stevensons’ lawyers also appear at the Supreme Court of Canada and one of our partners, Richard Macklin, has appeared in the Supreme Court of Canada on six occasions. Some of the leading appeal cases carried by Stevensons’ lawyers in the last few years are as follows: Constitutional Law—Chatterjee v. A.G. Ont., [2009] S.C.C. No. 19; Insurance Law—Boland v. Allianz Insurance Company of Canada (2008), 91 O.R. (3d) 796 (C.A.); Civil Procedure—Wilkings v. The Velocity Group (2008), 89 O.R. (3d) 751 (Div. Ct.).
Constitutional Litigation
In our Canadian democracy, individual citizens and corporations have a right to challenge legislation under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms or, more generally, the Constitution Act, 1982. Stevensons’ lawyers have acted on numerous constitutional law cases at all court levels including challenges to law office search legislation (R. v. Fink, (2002) 216 D.L.R. (4th) 257 (S.C.C.)) and the Ontario Civil Forfeiture Legislation (Chatterjee v. A.G. Ont., [2009] S.C.C. No. 19).