Firm Cases

In TD Insurance and Intact Insurance, McCague Borlack LLP successfully argued that Intact Insurance, not TD insurance, had priority to pay statutory accident benefits to a claimant for personal injuries sustained in an October 30, 2017, motor vehicle accident.

The question before Arbitrator Bialkowski was whom a 17-year-old claimant was principally financially dependent on – the claimant's father (Intact) or the claimant's stepmother (TD). To complicate matters, the claimant was a passenger in the vehicle owned by her stepmother and had recently moved from her biological mother's home to reside with her father and stepmother at the time of the accident.

In Capital Solar Power Corporation v The Ontario Power Authority, Howard Borlack of McCague Borlack LLP represented the Ontario Power Authority before Justice Toscano Reccamo of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice for a claim alleging the tort of misfeasance of public office.

Acting for the Applicants, Howard Borlack, Partner at McCague Borlack LLP had a favourable decision from the Ontario Divisional Court when they recently quashed an award by an Umpire arising from an appraisal pursuant to a homeowners policy and the Insurance Act. The insured's house sustained a fire and was beyond repair. The insured and insurer could not agree on the Actual Cash Value which the insured was entitled to under its Policy. The appraisals on behalf of both the insured and the insurer were approximately the same based to a great extent on comparable houses in the area.

Capital Solar Power Corporation v. The Ontario Power Authority, 2019 ONSC 1137 (S.C.J.) Successfully resisted a two-week trial in having a claim founded in public misfeasance dismissed as against our client in a $9M action.

The recent decision, C.M. v P.M.,1 the Health Professionals Appeal and Review Board (“HPARB”) confirmed a decision of the Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee of the College of Kinesiologists of Ontario (“The College Committee”). The College Committee found that a Functional Abilities Evaluation (“FAE”) Report by P.M., a kinesiologist, was within the scope of her professional expertise and had sufficient detail about C.M.'s functional abilities and limitations.

This decision was appealed to the HPARB on a standard of reasonableness. The HPARB ultimately ruled that the above findings were within the range of possible, acceptable outcomes at law. Anthony Gatensby and Karen Bernofsky of McCague Borlack LLP successfully advocated this position on behalf of P.M. and these advocacy efforts led the HPARB to reach its final decision.

On April 18, 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada released its long-awaited “Jurisdiction Trilogy”, three decisions considering private international law as it relates to litigating claims with extra-jurisdictional elements. McCague Borlack LLP was involved in two of the three cases and is pleased to announce that the Supreme Court upheld the positions of its clients in both.

The Jurisdiction Trilogy provides clarification as to when a court may assume jurisdiction over claims, known as jurisdiction simpliciter, and further, when a court may decline jurisdiction on the grounds that another forum is clearly more appropriate.