Acquisitive prescription: When “title” isn’t everything

By: Gabriel Di Genova Avoid losing your title rights to land: Be vigilant and proactive. Demonstrate your possession is useful, peaceable, continuous, public and unequivocal. The Superior Court of Quebec recently reaffirmed a judicial trend making it easier to recognise “rights” of interested parties to acquire land via ten year…

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Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act

By: Diana Lyrintzis As of January 1, 2023, the Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act comes into force and foreign persons and entities will be prohibited from purchasing residential property in Canada. This measure is part of the federal government’s fight against unproductive ownership of real…

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Notices of Municipal Evaluation (2023-2024-2025): Deadlines and Modalities for Contestation

By: Gabriel Di Genova Property owners in Quebec are currently receiving evaluation notices for period 2023-2024-2025. The increases can be substantial, leaving owners with significantly higher operating expenses for the next three years. Numerous factors affect an assessment. For example, the condition of a building, maintenance works required and rates…

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COVID-19: Not a Force Majeure with regard to a Promise to Purchase (Lankry v. Larue, 2022 QCCS 3671)

By: Paul Déry-Goldberg Judgments from the Superior Court of Quebec are emerging more and more concerning the impact of COVID-19 upon the obligations of co-contracting parties. Recently, the Superior Court rendered a judgment concerning the obligations of parties to a Promise to Purchase for a residential property and found that…

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Post-Pandemic Insolvency Trends in the Mid-Market

By: Adam Spiro As we cautiously enter the “post-pandemic” world, mid-market business owners are starting to ask what the future will look like. The pandemic brought two years of record low mid-market business insolvencies[1]: BIA filings by businesses in 2020 were down nearly 25% from the previous year both in…

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How Will the Controversial Bill 96 Affect Lenders and Borrowers?

By: Suzanne Villeneuve Bill 96 reforming the Charter of the French language aims to modify several Quebec laws. The goal of this article is to highlight the specific impact of Bill 96 on lenders and borrowers when setting up financing agreements if Bill 96 comes into force in its current…

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2021 in Labour Law (Part 2 of 3): Are Quebec Employers Responsible for Overseeing the Safety of Their Employees’ Homes?

By: Gabriel Di Genova Entering the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, a significant subset of the province’s workforce remains relegated to remote working. Under the circumstances — for which there is no clear end in sight — to what degree are employers obligated (or even capable) of ensuring oversight…

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2021 in Labour Law (Part 1 of 3): Can Labour Shortages Reduce the Amount Employers Must Pay in Cases of Wrongful Termination in Quebec?

By: Gabriel Di Genova In a recent decision, the Court of Quebec identified ongoing shortages in the labour market as a potential reason to reduce the indemnity due by an employer to a wrongfully terminated employee. In Cossette c. Les Entreprises B. Chouinard, 2021 QCCQ 12029, the plaintiff was hired…

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“Invoking the Covid-19 Pandemic to Terminate Fixed Term Employment Contracts: A Warning to Employers”

“In March 2020, employers began aggressively consulting with labour lawyers to assess their obligations toward existing employees while facing the economic uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic”, notes Gabriel Di Genova. In his latest article, he examines the outcome in one of the earliest judgments on the merits in this context…

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