In Star Woodworking Ltd. v. Improve Inc., 2021 ONSC 4940, Justice F.L. Myers of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice concluded he was required to refer to arbitration parts of a multi-action litigation even though dividing the issues and parties was, in the Court’s view, unreasonable in the circumstances. In granting the stay, Justice Myers followed the Supreme Court of Canada’s holding in TELUS Communications Inc. v. Wellman, 2019 SCC 19 (Wellman) to the effect that unless a party establishes one of the bases for refusing a stay under subsection 7(2) of the Arbitration Act, 1991, the Court lacks discretion to refuse the partial stay motion under subsection 7(5). He stayed portions of two of the joined actions on certain issues as against one of the Defendants but allowed them to continue on the remaining issues as against the other Defendants.
Continue reading “Ontario – Court refers part of dispute to arbitration despite concluding dividing the issues was “unreasonable” in the circumstances – #520”Federal CA – Arbitrator/Adjudicator expressing “tentative views” in pre-adjudication mediation to foster settlement not indicative of bias – #515
In Fono v. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 2021 FCA 125, the Federal Court of Appeal heard a second-level appeal of a prothonotary’s decision to strike out parts of the appellant’s notice of application for judicial review and affidavit on the basis that they contained settlement privileged information, specifically, evaluative statements allegedly made by the labour adjudicator in a pre-hearing mediation, which the appellant argued demonstrated bias. The FCA found the Federal Court judge made no error in upholding the prothonotary’s decision, specifically noting that the impugned statements did not demonstrate bias merely because the labour adjudicator expressed tentative views on offers made and positions taken in the dispute with a view to fostering settlement.
Continue reading “Federal CA – Arbitrator/Adjudicator expressing “tentative views” in pre-adjudication mediation to foster settlement not indicative of bias – #515”