By Walker Law

Where Privilege Ends: The Line Between Communications and Facts When clients believe that their communications with legal counsel may become relevant in litigation, a natural instinct is to assume that these communications are automatically protected by solicitor-client privilege. Likewise, counsel can be tempted by the same instinct to assert privilege broadly for their communications with...Read More

Mitigation and Accommodation in the Modern Workplace The realm of employment law continues to change rapidly, especially after the upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Employers are facing uncertainty regarding how to implement a return-to-office mandate (see our previous article for more on that topic). Recent jurisprudence provides guidance on where employers might be liable...Read More

When Parallel Lawsuits Expose Privileged Legal Advice Buyers who feel wronged in a real estate transaction may often have multiple professionals to blame. It may be their realtor, who failed to flag a deficiency, or their lawyer who missed a critical term in the Agreement of Purchase and Sale. In such transactions, buyers may choose...Read More

Settle Down: When An Agreement Can Bind You Before Signing When negotiating a settlement agreement with your employer, it is important to be cautious of what you consent to in writing. Even before signing any formal written document, you have already accepted a binding agreement.. In the recent decision of Stribling v Starbucks Coffee Canada...Read More

Closing Adjustments Gone Wrong: Lessons for Buyers and Builders Unexpected charges that pop up right before pre-construction closings can quickly turn the transaction into a standoff. Buyers may refuse to close, builders may threaten to terminate, and both sides risk losing more than what they bargained for. In this article, the real estate litigation lawyers...Read More

Bank of China v Shah and Summary Judgment: When Is a Full Trial Not Needed for a Debt Claim? Summary judgment – an expedited form of trial to reach a decision – is often employed by lawyers to avoid unnecessarily prolonged litigation. The main qualification for summary judgment is “no genuine issue requiring a trial,”...Read More

Sexual harassment in the workplace causes real harm: to the individuals who experience it, to the colleagues who witness it, and to the organizations that fail to address it. Employers and employees alike often find themselves without a clear roadmap when a complaint arises, unsure of their rights, their responsibilities, or what a proper process...Read More

What Damages Can Be Claimed for a Commercial Lease Breach? A recent trial decision, Vista Sudbury Hotels Inc. v The Oshawa Group Limited, demonstrates what damages a commercial landlord can claim when a tenant breaches their lease by terminating early.[1] The judge examined the landlord’s losses after the breach and determined which ones were compensable...Read More

Home co‑ownership can make owning a property possible where it otherwise wouldn’t be. But like any shared investment, it can also create personal and financial risks if not carefully structured from the outset. The real estate litigation lawyers at Walker Law see a recurring pattern of co‑ownership disputes arising not from bad faith, but from...Read More

Back to (In-Person) Work: Can a Return-to-Office Order be Constructive Dismissal? Following the end of COVID-19 lockdowns, many employees who had grown accustomed to working remotely were asked to return to in-office work, either full-time or in a hybrid format. Earlier this year, many government employees in Ontario were ordered to work in-person five days...Read More

In Shynkarova v. 2554318 Ontario Ltd. o/a Tax Mechanic,[i] the Ontario Super Court of Justice considered a termination that occurred just days before the employee was to reach a legally-significant milestone under the Employment Standards Act (ESA),[ii] while also examining the employer’s conduct during and after the termination. In this post, the employment litigation lawyers...Read More

Title: Tanya Walker Accepts the 2026 Martin Luther King Leadership and Community Award Date: January 17, 2026 Description: In this video, Tanya Walker, accepts the 2026 Martin Luther King Leadership and Community Award presented by the Educational Foundation for Children’s Care Canada (EFCCC). The award recognizes leadership grounded in service, community impact, and a sustained commitment to equity...Read More

How the Amended Construction Act Changes the Game on Lien Claims On January 1, 2026, key amendments to the Construction Act came into effect, changing holdback payment procedures, allowing joinder of claims, and expanding opportunities for adjudication and other claims. Owners and contractors need to be aware of the new changes when making decisions on...Read More

When a Settlement Isn’t Paid but Still Survives Settlement agreements are intended to finally resolve disputes. When payment obligations are not met, however, parties often assume the agreement has collapsed and that the underlying claims automatically revive. In this post, the litigation lawyers at Walker Law examine Clark v. 189557 Ont. Inc.,[i] which is a...Read More

Relying on Hearsay in Injunctions: When Does It Meet the Test? Hearsay statements are permitted in a motion for injunction, but one must avoid relying heavily on such statements when there is a higher standard of proof to meet. Our firm was recently successful in One World Logistics Group Corp v Sotiri[1]. This case serves...Read More

When Silence Speaks: How Silence Can Amount to Misrepresentation In real estate transactions, parties often assume that legal risk arises only from what is explicitly said (such as promises made, projections shared, or assurances given, by either side). Silence, by contrast, is frequently seen as neutral. That assumption is not always true. Courts have consistently...Read More

What You Need to Know About the Newest Employment Law Updates While the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“ESA”) governs the responsibilities that employers and employees have to one another, its provisions are subject to amendment. It is important for employers to stay informed on the changes to employment standards in Ontario, such as for...Read More

Entitlement to Stock Options as Damages for Wrongful Dismissal In a recent lawsuit against Shopify (Egan Cheung v Shopify Inc.), a former employee claims damages for wrongful dismissal, alleging damages for lost salary-earning opportunities during his reasonable notice period of 12 months, along with additional damages for lost employee benefits and unused vacation pay during...Read More

As the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) continue to grow, individuals and organizations are increasingly relying on AI to produce all kinds of content. AI-generated images are a huge subset within this field. AI-generated images are used for marketing, design, and even entertainment. But with new advancements in technology, come new legal questions. When it...Read More

Solicitor-client privilege is one of the most important aspects of litigation, because it protects communications between a client and their counsel regarding legal advice, litigation strategies, and other private information. Keeping these records privileged helps all parties develop a strong case without fear of interference or an imbalance of information. However, sometimes, whether accidentally or...Read More

Nowadays, many parents add their adult children to their bank accounts to help manage their finances. While these arrangements are often made out of love, trust, and practicality, they can sometimes lead to misunderstandings about who owns the funds. Understanding the legal implications of joint accounts is important to ensure that both parents and their...Read More

A corporation is a separate legal entity from its shareholders. Any litigation brought against the corporation will typically not extend to individual directors, officers, or workers. This principle is known as the corporate veil, protecting shareholders from personal liability except where an individual has clear and direct responsibility for the harm suffered. However, in certain...Read More

Understanding the New Federal Bills Before Parliament A set of new federal bills (C-2, C-8, and C-9) have been the subject of major controversy, with each promising to strengthen Canada’s national security and social cohesion. Beneath the language of “safe borders,” “cyber resilience,” and “combatting hate,” many experts and civil rights advocates see a troubling...Read More

A New Precedent for ESA Minimums: No Common Law Guarantees While an employment agreement may state that an employee is only entitled to minimum payments and entitlements under the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000 (the “ESA”), employees can argue for their right to common law damages for wrongful dismissal. This is often done by asserting...Read More

What Employers Should Know About Quiet Quitting and Job Hugging In recent years, workplace culture has changed significantly. New phrases pop up to describe behaviours and phenomena in the workplace. Phrases like “quiet quitting” and “job hugging” are two distinct, but related, phrases that reflect how employees are coping with stress, uncertainty, and changing expectations...Read More

Relief Measures in Response to Tariffs In a tariff-impacted economy, the Canadian government expects the volume of Employment Insurance (“EI”) benefits claims to rise substantially. The Canada Employment Insurance Commission expects an additional 415 000 claims in the first 12 months. It is also expected that more claims will exhaust their entitlement. Canada’s federal government...Read More

When Fraud Demands Disclosure: Norwich Orders and Rule 30.10 In Ontario, it is common for courts to order individuals or organizations, who are not directly involved in a dispute, to produce records such as text messages, emails, or financial records. These orders are often sought when a party suspects that fraud has taken place. These...Read More

Intro to Rule 45.02 and Specific Fund When a litigant’s right to a “specific fund” – an identifiable pool of money such as a bank account, sale proceeds, or lottery winnings – is at issue, the long court proceedings can be frustrating. This goes beyond mere inconvenience if there is a reasonable fear that the...Read More

What are liens in contracts? A party that provides construction services to an owner, contractor or subcontractor can impose a “lien” on the owner’s interest, which is a debt based on the price of the services used to improve the property in question. Liens are important to construction contracts because they provide the service worker...Read More

The law is equipped to urgently deal with unjust exclusions of directors and officers from corporations. However, the path to reinstating an unfairly excluded director or officer can vary in length and difficulty, depending on the facts and circumstances of an exclusion. Walker Law’s experienced commercial litigation lawyers are here to breakdown the remedies available...Read More

A recent court decision at the Ontario Superior Court, Li v Wayfair ULC., 2025 ONSC 2959 (“Wayfair”), may change how courts view the enforceability of termination clauses. Last year, we wrote about Dufault v The Corporation of the Township of Ignace, 2024 ONSC 1029 (“Dufault”). In that case, the Court held a termination clause to...Read More

Homeowners Associations (HOAs) Homeowners Associations (HOAs) aim to ensure aesthetic and architectural harmony among the properties that are considered part of their “building scheme”. A building scheme has been described as a “community of interests” by the courts, which means that there is reciprocity between homeowners within the building scheme. For example, many building schemes...Read More

Enforcing USA Judgments in Ontario Ontario courts do not automatically recognize or enforce court orders from outside Canada. So, what do you do when you have a judgment from a court in a state in the United States of America (“USA”), but the defendant has assets in Ontario? You must obtain an order in Ontario...Read More

Waiver of the Right to Arbitrate Many contracts include arbitration provisions and arbitration agreements, which allow the parties to the contract to agree in advance that some or all disputes that arise out of the contract will go to arbitration, rather than going to court. Arbitration can be an efficient and cost-effective way of dealing...Read More

Ex Parte Injunctions Protect Clients in Urgent Legal Disputes What is an ex parte injunction? An injunction is a court order that either prohibits a party in a lawsuit from doing a specific thing or orders them to do a specific thing. To convince a judge that they should grant an injunction, the party must...Read More

For many Canadian business owners, gathering information about customers forms the bedrock of sustained growth, because such data can inform decisions in a wide variety of areas, like marketing and advertising. Some businesses have subsidiaries, or are themselves subsidiaries of larger corporations, and they may want to share the customer information that they’ve gathered with...Read More

Many contracts contain forum selection clauses, which tell the parties to the contract where legal disputes over the contract will be litigated. For example, a contract between two businesses could say that any litigation arising from the contract must be brought to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. Forum selection clauses play an important role...Read More

In both civil and criminal proceedings, court attendance is not always voluntary, especially when someone is ordered to do something they do not want to do. But can a person be forced to attend court or another court proceeding? And what legal framework governs the use of force in these situations? Criminal Context Most people...Read More

Title: Tanya Walker on CTV News: the Implications of Using Physical Force to Compel one to Attend Court Date: April 18, 2025 Description: In this news report anchored by Tony Ryma, Tanya Walker was interviewed by Darren MacDonald of CTV News Northern Ontario to discuss the implications of using physical force to compel one to...Read More