In Great American Insurance Co. v. Ramsoondar (2016 ABQB 73), the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench was asked to declare that a director and officer liability insurance policy did not cover the losses claimed against Fredy v. Ramsoondar pursuant to a personal guarantee he granted to Faunus Group Inc. (FGI), a client of United Protection Services Inc. (UPSI). UPSI was a wholly owned subsidiary of United Protection Services Group Inc. (UPSG), and UPSG obtained a director and officer liability policy from Great American Insurance Co., and listed Ramsoondar as its chief financial officer on the policy.
Read More
Tags:
Insurance,
Insurance Claims,
Canadian,
directors,
directors & officers
If you are an employer and are considering using suspension as a disciplinary measure, be aware that the Supreme Court of Canada has indicated that employers do not have unfettered authority to withhold work from their employees and that legitimate business reasons must be shown in the context of any administrative suspension. Absent such reasons, an administrative suspension—even with pay—may be found to be a constructive dismissal.
Read More
Tags:
Business & Legal,
Employer Best Practices,
Employee Rights,
Canadian
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice issued an initial order in an insolvency proceeding under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) providing a $3.1 million director’s charge even though the directors were covered by an existing D&O liability insurance policy and indemnities from the company (Re P.T. Holdco Inc., 2016 ONSC 495). The CCAA proceedings involved various corporate entities involved in the Primus telecommunications service business in Canada and the United States. Primus’ business was failing and it had arranged to sell its business to another company and wished to use the CCAA to finalize the sale and distribute the sale assets while its creditors were stayed from enforcing their claims.
Read More
Tags:
Corporate Governance,
Insurance,
Canadian,
directors,
directors & officers
Ontario is the first jurisdiction in North America to regulate the sale and use of neonicotinoid-treated seeds, which have been implicated as a significant factor in recent and alarming declines in bee populations. Ontario’s new restrictions on “neonics” came into effect on July 1, 2015, and Jeff Leal, Minister of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs, hopes that the restrictions will reduce use of the treated seeds by 80% by 2017.
Read More
Tags:
Environmental risks,
Environmental,
EHS,
Hazcom,
Canadian
In Kent v. Postmedia Network Inc. (2015 ABQB 461), the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench granted a summary judgment application by Paul Godfrey and Gordon Fisher, two directors of Postmedia Network Inc., and dismissed the defamation claims against them by the plaintiff, Arthur Kent. Kent claimed he had been defamed in a 2008 article written by Don Martin and published in the Calgary Herald and National Post and continuing to be available on various websites maintained by Postmedia. The article at issue was published while Kent was a candidate in the Alberta provincial election and he claimed it contained false and defamatory statements that were intended to have readers infer that Kent’s career as an international correspondent was insubstantial, he was unworthy of public trust and confidence, his election campaign was incompetent and he lacked support from both his campaign team and political party. In the course of the litigation leading up to the motion for summary judgment, Kent had both Fisher and Godfrey served with a Notice of Intention to bring an Action setting out the basis for his claim of defamation and seeking removal of the article from websites. Neither Fisher nor Godfrey sought the removal of the article from those websites.
Read More
Tags:
Corporate Governance,
Canadian,
directors
A manager reports to you that one of your workers, Joe, has admitted to a problem with alcohol. Or perhaps there’s an accident in the workplace and the ensuing investigation reveals that Jane is a regular drug user. Or John arrives at the office, once again unfit to do his job because he’s “under the influence.”
Read More
Tags:
Employer Best Practices,
Health & Safety,
Employee Rights,
Workplace violence,
Canadian
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administers rules governing the import and export of hazardous waste regulated by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). These rules implement requirements established by RCRA, and also ensure that the U.S. meets its international responsibilities as a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) by creating national rules that meet agreed-upon OECD standards. The proposal should appear in the Federal Register soon, opening a 60 day comment period after which EPA will decide whether to finalize the changes.
Read More
Tags:
Health & Safety,
Environmental risks,
Environmental,
EPA,
Hazcom,
RCRA,
Canadian
The founder and principal of Northland Properties Corp. (“Northland”), Bob Gaglardi and his son, Tom Gaglardi, the president of Northland were found guilty, along with Northland, of two counts of “unlawfully carrying on a work or undertaking that resulted in the harmful alteration, disruption or destruction of fish habitat along the foreshore of Kamloops Lake” contrary to the federal Fisheries Act (R. v. Northland Properties Corp., 2014 BCPC 251 (BC Prov. Ct.). The charges related to land clearing and placing of fill on seven of Northland’s properties. The Crown alleged the work was performed unlawfully by Northland’s servants and under the direction of the Gaglardis. Both Northland and Tom Gaglardi denied they intended to cause the resulting damage to fish habitat, pleading that “the project supervisor for the work, Jim Parks, exceeded the directions he had been given on the project regarding landscaping.” They did admit that they had failed to be duly diligent in supervising the project, resulting in the damage to the fish habitat. Bob Gaglardi pleaded he was only briefly and peripherally involved in the project and thus, was not guilty. The Court held that there was sufficient reasonable doubt to acquit him on the charges.
Read More
Tags:
Corporate Governance,
Business & Legal,
Environmental risks,
Environmental,
Canadian
Ever felt guilty about how you can’t recycle the plastic of a toothpaste tube and then considered how everyone you know uses them and throws them away? Ladies, have you ever thought about how many years your lip balm or lipstick container will remain on the earth after you are done with it? Environmental packaging options for these items has been stagnant (or non-existent, in fact) for quite some time, but I am happy to say that there are options out there and you just have to know where to look.
Read More
Tags:
Business & Legal,
Environmental risks,
Environmental,
EHS,
Canadian
