Beneath the Law

Send us Fan Mail Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gets a lot thrown at him. But in 2021 in southern Ontario, the CEO of the Peoples Party of Canada, a rival party, threw a handful of small rocks at him.  Unquestionably that should never have happened. There’s no room for that in our society. Charges were laid and the accused acknowledged what he had done. But as part of his defense, he wanted the Pri...

Send us Fan Mail If you own a property bordering a golf course you know the risk involved. Stray shots will see golf balls enter your property or maybe even hit your house. Who is responsible for damages? The homeowner? The Golf Course? The Golfer? As with all things involving the Law, it depends. There are various claims homeowners can make including negligence and yes the Course and the golfer t...

Send us Fan Mail Robert Pella was a candidate in the most recent municipal election running for Catholic School Trustee in the City of Toronto. He was running against an incumbent and fought a tough battle and lost… but by only ONE VOTE. He first went to the school board and asked for a recount. They refused. So, he had to go to court and won his case, but with strict restrictions in place. You ne...

Send us Fan Mail There’s a scene in the 1931 film “Frankenstein” that conjures an easy image – an angry mob of people storm the castle of Dr Frankenstein armed with pitchforks. Nearly a century later we the people still have the same mentality, we just prefer to do it online. In 2013, a Nova Scotia woman, convicted several times under the Animal Protection Act over more than a decade, became the f...

Send us Fan Mail It’s a concept known as Sugaring or Sugar Dating. A website service created to connect generally older males with younger females. Sugar Daddies. The older men are generally expected to provide younger women with gifts and money. The expectations of the younger women can vary. A very old (and somewhat creepy) concept.  But in this particular case, the Sugar Daddy, was a lawyer. An...

Send us Fan Mail In June 2023, prosecutors for a case in New York filed a motion backed by six case studies. The defending attorneys looked at the case studies and scratched their heads… they never heard of these cases. It turns out the six cases had been found by the prosecuting attorneys using Chat GPT, the generative AI tool. As artificial intelligence tools are prone to do, Chat GPT hallucinat...

Send us Fan Mail Last month, Russell Brown announced he was stepping down as a justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. His resignation put a halt to the Canadian Judicial Council’s probe of a claim of misconduct directed against Brown related to an incident in the United States. And it means there won’t be a public report on the matter. Accounts of the incident differ but it has been established t...

Send us Fan Mail Anti Libel Chill legislation is a fairly recent change. Libel Chill is the fear of being sued for speaking your mind.  An example of this is if a developer wanted to build something in a particular area but a grassroots ratepayer organization formed to oppose it. The developer might hire a legal team to essentially send the message that if people say bad things about the developer...

Send us Fan Mail Months ago, proponents of Bill C-18, the Online News Act, dismissed warnings from Meta and Google, believing their threats to remove news links from their platforms were mere bluffs. But inevitable has occurred with Meta taking action recently by actively blocking news links and sharing on Facebook and Instagram. The situation appears dire, leaving little hope for resolution. In t...

Send us Fan Mail Emojis… widely used in digital communication to convey emotions, actions, or ideas, haven’t typically been universally recognized as legally binding symbols in formal contracts or agreements. Until now.  A recent decision at the Court of King’s Bench for Saskatchewan found the thumbs-up emoji (👍) constituted acceptance of a contract to sell 87 metric tonnes of flax. The damages o...

Send us Fan Mail Jordan Peterson’s clash with the College of Psychologists of Ontario has been controversial to say the least. In this episode, Stephen and Gavin highlight the profound ability to misunderstand argument, position, and opinion for a belief – and the growing divide in society when it comes to viewpoints and tolerance for alternative perspectives.   Where does the balance lie between...

Send us Fan Mail There’s a clear regulatory gap in the world of temporary rentals like Airbnb’s. Long-term Airbnb stays face challenges which is clear from a recent Toronto Star story. A couple from Switzerland booked a 10-month Airbnb stay in midtown Toronto. Everything seemed fine with the couple settling in and getting along well with the landlord. Then things took a turn when the landlord want...

Send us Fan Mail Gavin and Stephen discuss the implications of digital footprints and privacy in the context of law and technology.  Every action online leaves a digital footprint, which can be used in legal cases to determine when a document was created.  They also discuss the issue of privacy in the workplace, particularly when employers provide devices like phones or computers to their employee...

Send us Fan Mail A recent decision by the Law Society against the firm Diamond and Diamond spotlights a pivotal aspect of law firm marketing, particularly within the personal injury sector. Gavin and Stephen dissect the case of Jeremy Diamond, a lawyer who facing penalty from the Law Society for misleading advertising. His firm was caught making false claims regarding their services and expertise....

Send us Fan Mail Let’s dive into a controversial issue. How about gender identity and the role of parents and schools in Canada?  New policies by the governments of New Brunswick and Saskatchewan, require parental consent for children under 16 to use different gender identity pronouns.  In this episode Gavin and Stephen highlight the legal and political implications of these policies, including a...

Send us Fan Mail Tom Hanks has warned his fans about a circulated AI-generated ad featuring him, clarifying he had nothing to do with the ad. Megan Fox has had issues with Lensa’s Magic Avatars, a popular AI art tool that creates stylized portraits based on user-submitted photos. Stephen Spielberg has expressed his nervousness about the impact of AI on the future, particularly its potential to rep...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode Etobicoke Centre MP Yvan Baker discusses gun control in Canada and the US. Baker says government regulation is important in controlling firearms, but the debate is ongoing.  Baker explains that Canada has traditionally had more restrictive gun laws than the US, but there is a growing desire for stronger action to prevent serious gun crimes. He mentions recent measu...

Send us Fan Mail Gavin and Stephen discuss the intersection of law and sports, specifically focusing on incidents in hockey where players have been criminally charged or sued for their actions on the ice.  There have been high-profile cases, such as those involving NHL players Dino Ciccarelli, Marty McSorley, and Todd Bertuzzi, who were all charged with assault for their actions during games. They...

Send us Fan Mail Are Toronto’s homeless encampments pushing the city to its breaking point? Gavin and Stephen sit down with Dana McKiel, former sports broadcaster and founder of Toronto's Downtown Concerned Citizen Coalition (DCCO). McKiel offers a firsthand look at the challenges faced by Toronto's downtown residents, highlighting the rise of homelessness, makeshift camps, and their sig...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when a water gun incident lands someone in court? Gavin and Stephen dive into the bizarre case of a 63-year-old woman charged with assault for spraying her neighbour with a water gun. What initially appears to be a ridiculous legal issue turns out to have deeper, darker undertones involving allegations of racism and long-standing neighbourhood animosity. The unintende...

Send us Fan Mail Gavin Tighe and Stephen tackle the controversial case of a Manitoba NDP MLA and criminal lawyer, Mark Wasyliw, who was expelled from his party due to his law firm’s association with Peter Nygard’s defense.   They explore complex issues around the role of criminal defense lawyers, the implications of practicing law while in political office, and the fundamental principles of justic...