Ontario VS Tobacco Industry
The Star reported, “Ontario is suing tobacco companies for $50 billion to recover costs of treating citizens with smoking-related illnesses since 1955.”
Furthermore, “the Ontario government says smoking is the number one preventable cause of death in the province, killing 13,000 people a year - or 36 per day - and costs taxpayers $1.6 billion annually.”
It’s likely that the action will take years to get to the courts. Despite, the fact that it’s readily proven that tobacco use kills and causes serious illness it will be interesting to see what line of defence the tobacco companies will use. Other than the typical i.e., that people chose to smoke and accept the health hazards voluntarily.
The Star article can be found here
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Recall Of 5.4 Million Units Of Shades And Blinds
At least 3 deaths and several injuries have been blamed on a number of blinds sold at various retailers in the United States that include Target, Ikea and Pottery Barn. The cause has been attributed to a defect in the design.
Click here for more.
Summary Of Document Must Be Provided
In Tiller v. St. Andrew’s College the Plaintiff’s brought a motion compelling the Defendant produce a statement provided by the Defendant companies Chief Engineer and Director of Property Facilities. In this case, the Plaintiff was injured when a rod fell from the ceiling and hit the Plaintiff on the head.
The Chief Engineer was examined at Discovery. Yet the Defendants maintained the statement provided by the Chief Engineer would not be produced nor a summary of its contents since it was deemed privileged.
The Plaintiff’s motion was not seeking production of the actual document. Yet a summary. The Plaintiff’s request was granted.
The motions Judge stated:
The defendant in this case has put in issue safety of the premises, assumption of risk, causation, contributory negligence by the plaintiff, and damages. The plaintiff is entitled to know all of the facts known to the defendant relating to the condition of the premises at the material time, the role of the plaintiff, causation, and whether or not, and to what extent, she suffered damage. The plaintiffs are also entitled to know the names of any persons with relevant knowledge and their addresses. To the extent that there are relevant facts or witness particulars in the statement of the defendant’s Chief Engineer and Director of Property and Facilities at the relevant time relating to these issues, they are discoverable. The statement itself is neither sought nor is it producible, assuming that it is subject to litigation privilege as this motion assumes.
Don’t Text And Drive
This UK public service announcement is causing some stir due to the graphic nature of the video. The ad is to highlight the concern regarding texting while driving.
Air France Victims Look To Sue
Air France
No surprises here. The victims of this summer’s Air France tragedy are looking to commence legal proceedings against the airliner. At this time little is known. One of the suspected causes might be faulty speed sensors. Air France says that it has replaced the faulty sensors.
On August 2, 2005 an Air France jet failed to land on the runway in Toronto, Ontario. Instead, it landed in a ravine. All the passengers were safe but Air France faced class action proceedings on behalf of the passengers.
In June 2008 Air France started a lawsuit against the GTTA (Greater Toronto Airports Authority) for a faulty runway.
KFC’s New Sandwich
KFC has released a “sandwich” that consists of two kinds of bacon, two kinds of cheese and sauce. However, here’s the interesting the part instead of bread KFC will be using two pieces of fried chicken. How’s that for a healthy option.
Currently, the sandwich is only being marketed in specific areas in the United States.
It's estimated the sandwich has 1228 calories.
3.5 Million For Fibromyalgia And Chronic Pain
On July 2, 2009 a Milton, Ontario court awarded the Plaintiff, $3.5 million in damages and interest totalling $4 million dollars for chronic pain and fibromyalgia syndrome.
The incident happened when the Plaintiff was visiting her son at the Oakville hospital. A nurse told her she could spend the night on a bed in the room to be close to her son.
The bed collapsed and initially caused a fractured tailbone that went on to heal. However, the Plaintiff claimed to suffer from fibromyalgia that caused chronic pain.
Here is the case.
Live Scorpion With Those Fries?
This teacher down in the United States got a side order of live baby scorpian with his order of fries and sandwich at McDonald's.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/video/you-want-fries-with-that-scorpion/article1261544/
Social Insurance?
Here is an interesting article by a tort professor that describes how tort liability for a personal injury can be viewed as social insurance.
Click here for article.
Judges over 75
A very interesting dilemma regarding Judges made the front page of The Toronto Star. Legally Judges are to retire after the age of 75. However, Ontario no longer has the mandatory retirement requirement. As a result, there are Judges who are over the age of 75. Having a Judge who is 75 and older presiding over complicated or simple matters can be worrisome for council.
It has been requested that some of the decisions by these over 75 Justices be reviewed. This is would be a very complicated scenario.
Obviously, there is a policy reason for why Judges should retire after the age of 75. However, it seems like age discrimination. Remember after all John McCain was in his seventies when he ran for President just last year.