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Legal Blog:
Aug
01
2024
Advocacy
Advocacy is an art, not a science – but it still has rules. Break a rule and you are probably not a very good advocate. Good advocacy, whether written or oral, helps clients win cases. Bad advocacy helps clients lose cases. That said, depending upon the facts, good advocates can still lose cases and bad advocates can still win cases.
First Rule
Cases are usually won or lost on the facts. The law is normally established; the facts are whatever evidence counsel adduce to the court and then are found as part of the decision to be the facts. We talk about lawsuits, but they should really be known as factsuits. The job of a good advocate is to present all of the admissible facts necessary to support the client’s case.
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01
2024
Minefield
We often refer to construction lien law as construction litigation, but with security. The problem for practitioners who dabble in the area is that lien law is also a minefield waiting to blow up on unwary or inexperienced lawyers. Sometimes mistakes can be cured; often they cannot be. Fortunately, lawyers are insured and LawPro, the lawyers’ insurer, will appoint a construction lawyer who knows what to do to deal with these mistakes and sometimes turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse. One such case was Gay Company Limited v. 962332 Ontario Inc., a 2023 decision of the Superior Court of Justice.
What Happened
We are actually not entirely sure – because the references to plaintiff and defendant are interposed from what we would expect. However, we will assume that a contractor registered a lien against the lands of an owner for $767,000. But it is not quite that simple.
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