Dear Matthew:

 

To the excellent crowd-sourced list you’re building, you might consider adding Martel Building Ltd v Canada, 2000 SCC 60, [2000] 2 SCR 860. Though frequently extracted in Torts casebooks as a lesson on where courts won’t go in extending a duty of care for pure economic loss, the case included a contract claim and in any event was all about pre-contractual conduct. My favourite sentence: “The Department’s agents displayed casual contempt towards Martel and its personnel as illustrated by broken appointments and general disregard of the minimal courtesy Martel could have reasonably expected.” You’ll know that despite the contempt and the discourtesy, the Court held that Canada was privileged to act like that in a “hard bargaining” situation. The case also serves as a counterpoint to Bhasin v Hrynew, which Mat Campbell has nominated; together, the two illustrate the difference in the Court’s traditional stance to pre-contract negotiations and its emerging stance towards post-contract performance. Would Martel be decided the same way today?

 

John Kleefeld

Associate Professor, College of Law

2017 Teaching Fellow, Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching Effectiveness

University of Saskatchewan

15 Campus Drive

Saskatoon SK  S7N 5A6

 

tel:          (+1) 306.966.1039

email:    john.kleefeld@usask.ca

skype:    johnkleefeld

twitter: @johnkleefeld

web:       http://law.usask.ca/find-people/faculty/kleefeld-john.php

mission: http://www.usask.ca/leadershipteam/documents/president/MissionVisionValues.pdf

 

Read my article, co-authored with former student Kate Rattray, on editing Wikipedia for law school credit: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2729241.

 

And my tribute to Lord Atkin, “The Donoghue Diaries”: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2470647.

 

Also, “Concurrent Fault at 90,” my book chapter in Quill & Friel’s Damages and Compensation Culture: http://www.bloomsbury.com/au/damages-and-compensation-culture-9781849467971.

 

_______________________

 

On 2017-01-13, 10:36 AM, "Harrington Matthew P." <matthew.p.harrington@umontreal.ca> wrote:

 

    Dear Colleagues:

   

    I’m doing a short piece on the Canada Supreme Court and the law of contract  with a bit of an historical focus.  I was wondering if you might be willing to share with me what you consider the court’s most significant contracts cases --- over the past 150 years ----  even if  the case has been overruled.

   

    Thanks

   

    Matt

   

    -------------------------------

    Matthew P Harrington

    Professeur

    Faculté de droit

    Université de Montréal

    514.343.6105

    commonlaw.umontreal.ca

    ------------------------------