Civil Litigation

Civil litigation claims include estate litigation, employment law, real estate disputes, including construction law, debt collection, and professional regulation.

Litigation refers to the process of settling a dispute through the court system. Broadly speaking, civil litigation includes any litigation issue that is not a criminal charge. Cases in civil litigation can concern any matter that arises as between two parties. A breach of contract, a personal injury claim, an employment matter, or a business dispute such as intellectual property will all be heard in civil court. A civil litigator will not just be involved in arguing cases in a court of law. Litigation also includes a number of related processes including document drafting, due diligence, examinations for discovery, and many more things, which go into building a court case. While the process can vary by province, each province will have a generally similar system.

– Civil litigation may include the following

Estate litigation

Estate litigation disputes are unfortunately quite common in Canada. They occur when someone takes issue with the way estate administration tasks are being handled by the executor, such as the division of personal assets.

The Executor is both legally and financially responsible for any legal action or estate litigation brought against the estate. For example, if a family member has been left out of the will and they take you to court for their right to an inheritance.

If you don’t have Executor Liability Insurance, paying for the legal costs and outcomes of the estate battle will be out of the executor’s pocket. Estate battles are also known to drag on, and the end bill can be damaging. In one recent case, a Toronto Executor was in a 7-year long battle and had to pay over $1 Million dollars in the end.

Employment law

Employment law in Canada generally refers to the law governing the relationship of an individual employee to an employer, as distinguished from labour law, the law of unionized collective bargaining relationships. Employment law includes both the common, or judge-made, law of “master and servant,” which is concerned mainly with wrongful dismissal, and a complex mass of statute law dealing with minimum labour standards, human rights, occupational health and safety and workers’ compensation.

Real estate disputes, including construction law

Real estate and property law refers to the area of law that concerns issues relating to land and the structures on them. It can involve buyers and sellers in real estate purchase transactions. Or, it might involve neighboring landowners and the boundaries of properties they own or the uses they wish to make of their real estate. It can also involve building contractors, as well as real estate brokers and agents.

Real estate law might, for example, help clarify exactly what is being bought and sold in terms of boundaries, title, and the condition of properties. In real estate buy-sell transactions, it is important that the contracts involved are expertly written, providing all the information required by law and regulations.

Another important area of real estate law is landlord-tenant law, which regulates the relationship between property owners and the tenants to whom they rent their property. Landlord-tenant law can involve rental agreements that are either commercial or residential.

Debt collection

A debt that has “gone to collections” means that the debt (a loan, credit card, line of credit or even unpaid bills) has gone unpaid for a significant amount of time, and is typically more than 90 days overdue. When a debt gets sent to collections, the lender has decided that “normal” methods for collecting payment, perhaps calls from customer service representatives or branch employees, are not working. Instead, the debt is sent to a separate department or a completely separate company that is focused on receiving outstanding payments: debt collections.

Professional regulation

Professional regulation is when an organization makes an agreement with the government to make the promotion and protection of the public the ultimate purpose of the organization, and to do so by governing and regulating the practice of its members, firms, and students. As a regulatory body, we ensure HRPA members, firms, and students practice the profession in a competent and ethical manner through our codes, guidelines, and standards.

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