ONSC on service to Google

Google reviews – you either love ’em or hate ’em. Negative reviews can do unimaginable harm to your reputation and there is often little you can do to remove them. One company in Ontario, however, is trying to do just that. This Pre-Claim Injunction explains the interaction between Rules 37.17 and 16.01 of the Rules of Civil Procedure in determining whether email notification is acceptable as personal service.

[17]           In most cases, I would not be satisfied that when Myers J. sent the motion back to Obsidian’s counsel to be brought “on notice”, he meant notice by something other than the personal service required for an originating process. This was, after all, the first missive in this action (or proposed action) that Google, as defendant, would have received. However, Google is an unusual respondent in certain respects, and its uniqueness may impact on the way in which the ambiguity between Rule 16.01 and Rule 37.17 is interpreted.

Since Google has three dedicated email addresses dealing with litigation, Morgan, J. accepted that notice had been given. The interim injunction and Norwich Order sought was granted.

Obsidian Group Inc. v. Google LLC, 2022 ONSC 848

New MLRC Report on Presumed Consent Organ and Tissue Donation

An image of the cover of the final report titled Presumed Consent Organ and Tissue Donation

The Commission has released its final report on Presumed Consent Organ and Tissue Donation.

Under Manitoba’s current organ and tissue donation legislation, individuals cannot be after-death organ or tissue donors without express consent. Recent changes to legislation in other jurisdictions have shifted towards opt-out organ donation, moving from an express consent to a presumed consent system.

Manitoba is also considering making this shift, and the report makes 19 recommendations about giving consent and refusal of organ and tissue donation under a presumed consent framework. The recommendations also cover exceptions to presumed consent and the role of proxies who consent or refuse on someone else’s behalf.

For more information on the Commission visit the MLRC site.

Legislative Update – New Proclamation

The Government has issued the following Proclamation:

The Public Schools Amendment and Manitoba Teacher’s Society Amendment Act, S.M. 2021, c. 39

This Bill amends The Public Schools Act to establish centralized collective bargaining for teachers who are employed in the public school system. 

[…] The Manitoba Teachers’ Society Act is amended to require the society to establish a negotiating committee to carry out the society’s duties and powers for centralized collective bargaining for teachers.

The legislative amendments create a streamlined bargaining framework where all items are negotiated at a central table between the Manitoba Teachers’ Society (MTS) on behalf of all teachers’ associations and the employer bargaining representative on behalf of the employers’ organization.

For a current list of all proclamations, see here.

Staff Working from Home

Due to the planned demonstrations at the legislature Friday, February 4, 2022, library staff will be working from home. We hope to be able to provide you the same great service as when we’re here, but there may be some items we can’t retrieve. We plan to be back to our regular service on Monday.

Please contact us by email only until then. Thank you.

New from CanLII: AI generated subject classification for Ontario case law

A helpful new feature just launched on CanLII.org. Going forward, Ontario court decisions on CanLII will display artificial intelligence generated classification.

The AI feature uses machine learning technology to automatically generate practice area labels. The labels appear in grey at the bottom of a search result, underneath the italicized subject keywords:

screen shot of CanLII search result that contains the AI generated label "Public Administration"

The feature offers a quick way for users to determine under which practice area a case has been classified. The Ontario AI project is the second jurisdiction to receive this feature, after CanLII launched the feature for Saskatchewan case law last year.

Read more about the new Ontario project here.

Please note: The library will be closed on Tuesday, July 1st, 2025 for Canada Day.  Regular library service will resume Wednesday, July 2nd at 8:30AM.

The library will be closing at 3:00 p.m. today, June 30th, 2025.  Lawyers can ask Protective Services for access after hours.