Hillel David, the senior appellate lawyer at McCague Borlack LLP, was one of several counsel responding to the appeal by the plaintiff in Sanofi Pasteur Limited v UPS SCS, Inc. 2015 ONCA 88. The major issues on the appeal were the effect of an insurance covenant in a contract made between the plaintiff and one of the defendants (UPS) in a significant claim involving damage to vaccines stored in a temperature-controlled environment, and whether the defendants other than UPS, including Hilly's client, were entitled to take the benefit of the insurance covenant.

The Court of Appeal held both that...

McCague Borlack LLP lawyers Mark Mason and Hillel David were Counsel in The Court of Appeal when the claims against Reliance Home Comfort for damages arising from leaking hot water tanks were heard on October 23rd 2012. Decisions were released on November 27th 2012. These claims are amongst the very few  that have travelled from Small Claims Court all the way to the Ontario Court of Appeal. 

On December 7, 2011, the Ontario Divisional Court released its decision in two appeals that both involved property damage caused by the failure of leased hot water tanks. In each case the hot water tank, located in the homeowner's basement, developed a leak which resulted in damage to the home and contents.

The appeals raised a number of issues relating to implied warranties in lease agreements, the application of the Consumer Protection Act, the time period during which the implied warranties were operative, the time period during which the product was defective, the differences between sale and lease agreements, and the duty to warn. While most of those issues were not dealt with, the decision nevertheless is one of considerable importance, not just because there are literally hundreds (perhaps thousands) of similar claims that awaited the outcome, but more importantly because of the confirmation of the principle that implied warranties applicable to a leased product apply not only at the outset of the term of the lease but throughout that term.  Read the full case summary... | Read The Toronto Star article coverage... | Read Canadian Underwriters coverage... | Read the court decision...

Hemmings v Peng - the issue of remoteness of damage (“legal causation”) in the context of a medical malpractice claim. 

This paper was first published with Advocates' Quarterly in their September 2023 issue. The defence of novus actus interveniens is ringed in by various conditions and limitations to the extent that there is relatively little opportunity for its application. The major limitation is that it is unavailable where the later negligent conduct was reasonably foreseeable, "was the very thing that should have been anticipated", or "the very kind of thing which is likely to happen."

As stated at the outset of this decision, "The allocation of defence costs amongst serial insurers who owe their insured a duty to defend raises complex issues in the context of consecutive coverage periods and multiple class action claims that span lengthy time frames."