Law Times

Social host liability case must go to trial BY ALEX ROBINSON Law Times L awyers say a recent Ontar- io Superior Court decision leaves the door open for a possible finding of social host liability in certain circum- stances. In Wardak v. Froom, the defendants, Stephen and Carol Froom, held a party for their son, Graeme, celebrating his 19 th birth- day in 2011. The plaintiff, Dean Wardak, who was 18 at the time, had been drinking at the party before he walked home, got in his car and crashed into a tree. The ac- cident left him quadriplegic. Justice Wendy Matheson dis- missed the defendants' summary judgment motion that asked War- dak's claim be thrown out and said the case must go to trial. While Matheson did not rule on whether or not the defendants owed a standard of care to the plaintiff in the case, lawyers say the decision leaves the door open for a finding of social host liability in cases where the injured person is a guest and there is a paternalistic relationship between the parties. "It kind of gives us arguably hope in cases where someone at- tends a party and there's alcohol and they actually get injured them- selves," says Nga Dang, a personal injury lawyer, who was not in- volved in the case. Central to the Frooms' argu- ment in their motion for summa- ry judgment was that a Supreme Court of Canada decision in 2006, Childs v. Desormeaux, precluded a finding of duty of care. They also argued that they met the appli- cable standard of care and had not served Wardak alcohol. Childs was the first time the Su- preme Court ruled on the issue. In that decision, the Supreme Court found that social hosts did not owe a legal duty of care to third parties who had been injured by their intoxicated guests, but it left the door open to cases in three sit- uations in which the foreseeability FAMILY LAW REPORT GAPS Missed opportunity to fix systemic problems P7 FOCUS ON Restructuring & Insolvency Law P8 See Decision, page 2 PM #40762529 $5.00 • Vol. 28, No.10 March 20, 2017 L AW TIMES C O V E R I N G O N T A R I O ' S L E G A L S C E N E • W W W . L A W T I M E S N E W S . C O M PROTECTING SOURCES Surveillance of journalists leads to federal bill P4 BY ALEX ROBINSON Law Times L awyers are expressing concerns over the timing of the rollout of extensive draft regulations by the provincial government to amend the Condominium Act, saying it will leave them little time to bring clients up to speed. The government passed legis- lation back in 2015 to amend the act and to introduce the Condo- minium Management Services Act. After 18 months of consulta- tions, the government began re- leasing the first round of extensive draft regulations in February. The first round of changes will include updates to rules concern- ing communications between boards and owners, director quali- fications, meetings and records. Condo lawyers will need to have an understanding of the new draft regulations that will make changes to the Condominium Act, as well as all the new rules that will come under the CMSA, lawyers say. "We're going to have very little lead time and our clients are going to have very little lead time in order to implement these things and get ready for them and begin rolling with them," says Chris Jaglowitz of Gardiner Miller Arnold LLP. The government expects the first phase of legislation to be im- plemented between July and De- cember 2017. Jaglowitz says he is worried that this might not leave a lot of time for lawyers to digest all the regulations and help clients understand them. The first round of regulations has focused on licensing require- ments for condominium man- agers and governance rules, as well as the creation of two new admin- istrative authorities under the two acts. "There's a whole lot of stuff. The condo manager and condo board waking up on July 2, [2017] is go- ing to be in a very different world than they were a year ago," says Jaglowitz. "We're going to have our work cut out for us." Harry Malhi, a spokesman for the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services, says the legislation will be implemented in phases. The legislative overhaul will See New, page 2 Odysseas Papadimitriou says it is going to take time for lawyers to fully digest amendments to the Condominium Act. Photo: Robin Kuniski Concerns voiced about Condo Act overhaul Nga Dang says lawyers are still grappling with how to present evidence on summary judg- ment motions and the decision provides a good indication as to what judges will accept. e: ssoil@docudavit.com www.docudavit.com Litigation Support Our Document Management Services include: Scanning • Indexing • OCR (Optical Character Recognition) • Electronic Document Capture and More - Call Us, We Can Help! ntitled-1 1 2014-09-26 9:29 AM www.twitter.com/lawtimes Follow THE ULTIMATE SOURCE For Today's Legal Profession Canlawyer.lawtimes@tr.com | 416.609.3800 | 1.800.387.5164 Online bitly.com/CanLawyer-Subscription Free preview bitly.com/CanLawyer-FreePreview Subscribe today! ONE-YEAR SUBSCRIPTION INCLUDES: • 11 issues print and digital editions • FREE exclusive access to Canadian Lawyer digital edition archives • FREE weekly e-newsletter: Canadian Legal Newswire Untitled-1 1 2017-03-15 7:58 AM

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