Since well before October 17, 2018, when cannabis became legal across Canada, McCague Borlack LLP has been educating their lawyers and clients through articles and seminars on the impact of cannabis legislation on insurance claims and all other areas of potential liability, along with issues of risk management to prevent the emergence of claims altogether.
Our expertise and services and how they relate to Cannabis Law include:
Risk Management - identification and assessment of risk, formulation of strategy, creation of a go-forward plan, implementation of a plan including training, post-evaluation.
Product Liability - advising on product liability issues for producers, distributors, and dispensers related to all cannabis products, drafting and analyzing warranty provisions.
Commercial & Business Litigation – advising all business parties in disputes over cannabis-related issues and providing guidance and a thorough understanding of cannabis laws and regulations relevant to your business, whether it is related to starting, purchasing or investing in a cannabis business in Canada and how that relates to international laws.
Insurance Coverage - coverage analysis of cannabis-related issues as applied to particular claims, drafting and review of contracts and insurance policy wordings.
Sports Recreation & Resort Liability – related to liability claims further to cannabis products, risk management for social hosts, resort and team owners, and coaches, drafting and analyzing waiver provisions.
Employment Law – advising on the rights and responsibilities of employers and employees over drug testing and cannabis-related issues, including if it is for medical use.
Transportation Law - Many of our files involve catastrophic personal injury claims, fatalities, and significant property damage claims, as well as some cases deal in fraudulent claims. The Transportation Law Group understands the importance of quick action in a catastrophic loss, especially if a DUI is involved. To this end, we advise how insurers can manage risk, and we maintain a 24-hour emergency response team to attend at the scene of any catastrophic loss to secure witness statements and photographs, marshal the evidence, and arrange for immediate accident reconstruction by one of our experts.
Human Rights Law – Balancing the rights of those who use marijuana to treat a disability or on other protected grounds with the impact that use may have in other areas of life is a challenge for both applicants and respondents in human rights litigation. Our office is well-equipped and experienced in addressing these sensitive issues both inside and outside of the courts and tribunals.
Landlord and Tenant Law – The use of now-legalized cannabis products in the comfort of your own home or common area can often affect the reasonable enjoyment of other tenants and neighbours or even cause damage to the property itself. Our lawyers are informed and up to date on what is and isn’t permitted and what recourse is available to both landlords and tenants who believe they are being treated unfairly by the other side.
First Published in Advocates Quarterly. This paper addresses whether the same principles regarding the “real and substantial possibility” standard of proof apply to a hypothetical past loss claim as they do to a hypothetical future loss claim, and the interplay between the two standards of proof applicable to hypothetical claims: balance of probabilities for the “but for” causation test, and “real and substantial possibility” for damages.