n;Catherine Pilon, a partner in
Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP’s
Montreal office, has been
elected president of the Montreal
Bar Association for a one-year
mandate. She previously served
as vice-president and on the
bar’s council. Pilon practises
mainly in civil and commercial
litigation, including product lia-
bility and consumer protection,
as well as class actions.
MOVES
n;Borden Ladner Gervais LLP’s
Montreal office continues to
grow with the addition of two
associates. Yael Lachkar has a
background in business law,
intellectual property, civil and
commercial law, and was previ-
ously with Corporation d’avocats
Mathieu Inc. Simon Daigle joins
BLG after graduating from the
University of Sherbrooke Law
School and articling at Fraser
Milner Casgrain LLP in Montreal.
Both will be practising in the
areas of construction, engin-
eering, surety and fidelity.
n;Elena Cooper has joined
Frasken Martineau LLP’s
London office as partner in the
employment group, bringing a
broad range of expertise in tri-
bunals and appeal tribunal
claims with a focus on unfair
dismissal, discrimination,
restructuring and whistle-
blowing and protective awards.
AWARDS
Advance costs denied in
challenge to federal
Radiocommunication Act
MEGAN O’TOOLE
Advance costs should not be
granted to litigants arguing a
hypothetical breach of Charter
rights, British Columbia’s Court of
Appeal has ruled in overturning a
funding award to satellite TV
dealer Richard Rex.
The April 19 ruling by Justice Risa
Levine criticized the findings of
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Paul
Walker, who had determined that
Rex met the stringent criteria for
advance costs in a proposed constitutional challenge to legislation
prohibiting Canadian residents
from receiving foreign television
signals—even though there was
no willing TV service provider.
Advance costs are granted in
extremely rare cases to applicants
who lack the financial means to
pursue litigation in the broader
public interest.
“The overriding ground of
appeal is that the chambers judge
erred in applying the principles
governing an award of advance
costs, by justifying the award
based on a hypothetical Charter
challenge,” Justice Levine ruled in
Dish Network L.L.C. v. Rex, 2012
BCCA 161. “It is simply not pos-
sible to meet the tests for an award
of advance costs without demon-
strating a real, not imagined, issue
of extraordinary and exceptional
public importance.”
Christopher Bredt, who repre-
sents the U.S.-based television
providers Dish Network and DIR-
ECTV along with Toronto-based
Bell ExpressVu, said the case was
unusual because it ordered the
companies that opposed Rex’s
challenge to pay part of the costs.
Bredt
lion Canadians, including con-
sumers who could not access
programming in their native
language.
In the lower court ruling,
Justice Walker acknowledged
there was no Charter right to
receive private communications
not intended by the speaker to
be received, but deemed it
appropriate to consider the case
on the basis of a “reasonable
hypothetical” — that is, a foreign
television service willing to sell
to Canadians.
The Attorney General of Can-
ada, which acted as an inter-
vener, argued that the Charter
challenge should await the
involvement of an actual willing
foreign broadcaster, but Justice
Walker rejected that submission,
saying advance costs “should not
be denied on the basis that Can-
adian residents should wait for
the arrival of a wealthy stranger
to this country to demonstrate a
breach of expressive rights and to
finance the litigation.”
Justice Levine, however, found
little basis for the conclusion that
Rex’s constitutional challenge
had any merit, much less that it
could meet the criteria for
advance costs.
SHANNON KARI
The federal government has
been denied leave to appeal a ruling that ordered it to pay $2,600
to a retired diplomat in a dispute
over swimming pool maintenance charges.
n;Goodmans LLP has been
awarded the Restructuring Team
of the Year for the Americas at
the International Financial Law
Review Americas Awards held in
New York City. It was recognized
in two other awards: Restruc-
turing Deal of the Year, for its role
as counsel to the ad hoc com-
mittee of note holders of Angio-
tech Pharmaceuticals Inc., and
the M&A Deal of the Year, for its
role as counsel to Ernst & Young
Inc., Nortel Network Corp.’s
CCAA monitor.
THE LAWYERS WEEKLY
VOL. 22, NO. 27 NEWS FOR THE LEGAL PROFESSION DECEMBER 6, 2002
Ottawa loses again in pool costs case
The leave application was dismissed on May 7 by the Ontario
Court of Appeal. The government
was also ordered to pay $1,000 in
costs on the leave application to
Ian Thomson.
As reported in the March 23
edition of The Lawyers Weekly,
Thomson was the only Canadian
official at the consulate in Dubai
who was required to cover pool
maintenance costs at his residence.
We want to hear from you!
Email us at: comments@lawyersweekly.ca
Publisher
Anand Ablack, LL.B.
Editor In Chief
Rob Kelly
Senior Editor
Shannon Kari
Focus Editor
Matthew Grace, LL.B.
Ottawa Bureau Chief
Cristin Schmitz
Art Director
Tammy Leung
Production Coordinator
Pauline Braithwaite
Correspondents
Luigi Benetton, Toronto
Arnold Ceballos, LL.B., Toronto
Thomas Claridge, Toronto
Christopher Guly, Ottawa
Jeremy Hainsworth, Vancouver
Geoff Kirbyson, Winnipeg
Luis Millan, Montreal
donalee Moulton, Halifax
Mike Sadava, Edmonton
® THE LAWYERS WEEKLY
VOL. 22, NO. 27 NE WS FOR THE LEGAL PROFESSION DECEMBER 6, 2002
THE LAWYERS WEEKLY
Vol. 22, No. 27 NEWS FOR THE LEGAL PROFESSION December 6, 2002
THE LAWYERS WEEKLY
VOL. 22, NO. 27 NEWS FOR THE LEGAL PROFESSION DECEMBER 6, 2002
VOL. 22, NO. 27 NEWS FOR THE LEGAL PROFESSION DECEMBER 6, 2002
ADVERTISING
Advertising Sales
Jim Grice (905) 415–5807
Circulation Controller
Scott Welsh (905) 479–2665, ext. 324
HOW TO REACH US
Phone: (905) 479–2665
Toll-free: 1–800–668–6481
Fax: (905) 479–3758
Email: comments@lawyersweekly.ca
Main Office
123 Commerce Valley Drive East
Suite 700, Markham, ON L3T 7W8
Phone: (905) 479–2665
Ottawa Bureau
c/o Parliamentary Press Gallery
Rm 350-N, Centre Block
Parliament Hill, Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Phone: (613) 820–2794
Fax: (613) 995–5795
Website: www.lawyersweekly.ca
Member, Ontario Press Council
2 Carlton Street, Suite 1706, Toronto, ON
(416) 340–1981; Fax: (416) 340–8724
Postal Information: Please forward all
postal returns to: Circulation Controller, The
Lawyers Weekly, 123 Commerce Valley Drive
East, Suite 700, Markham, ON L3T 7W8.
Return postage guaranteed. ISSN 0830-
0151. Publications Mail Sales Agreement
Number: 40065517.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
1 year (48 issues): $278, plus tax
2 years (96 issues): $474, plus tax
U.S. and international subscriptions: $386/year
Law student rate: $64, plus tax
Individual copies: $12, plus tax
Digital Subscription Rates:
1 year (48 issues) $252, plus tax
2 years (96 issues) $428, plus tax
US / Int’l subscriptions: $345/year
Law student rate: $58, plus tax
GST/HST/QST No.: R121051767
COPYRIGHT/TRADEMARK
The Lawyers Weekly is published on Fridays,
48 times a year, by LexisNexis Canada Inc.,
123 Commerce Valley Drive East, Suite 700,
Markham, ON L3T 7W8. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any
material form (including photocopying or storing it in
any medium by electronic means and whether or not
transiently or incidentally to some other use of this
publication) without the written permission of the
copyright owner, except in accordance with the
provisions of the Copyright Act. The Lawyers Weekly
is a registered trademark of LexisNexis Canada Inc.
