In this issue - #140 October 29, 2010

This series, by Pushor Mitchell personal Injury lawyer Paul Mitchell Q.C., will explain the Top Ten mistakes to avoid with your ICBC claim. The article will give tips on how to ensure you do not make serious mistakes that could be fatal to your claim. For the next 10 issues of Legal Alert, Paul will focus on one mistake you should avoid, and what you should do instead to ensure your claim is not prejudiced.

Fatme Charafeddine’s children were abducted by her former spouse in Lebanon in 2004.  Fatme stayed in Beirut and fought to get them back for over one year.  In September of 2005 Fatme returned to Canada but did not give up and fought for the return of her children using the Canadian legal system. While her battle for her children waged on, she was forced to battle with the Canada Revenue Agency.

A recently released decision of the British Columbia Supreme Court may have brought some clarity to a thorny issue faced by many estate planners: Is it possible for a person to divest themselves of all their assets prior to death if the effect of doing so is to disinherit a spouse or child?

When a lender takes a mortgage over First Nations land “owned” by a non-Band member, their security is different than the security they typically receive for mortgages on other land.  In such a situation, the lender takes a mortgage over a leasehold interest in the land, not over the land itself.

On October 22, 2010, the Canadian Department of Finance announced that it is entering negotiations towards Tax Information Exchange Agreements with Vanuatu and the Cook Islands. Canada currently has signed Tax Information Exchange Agreements with 9 countries.  Canada is negotiating Tax Information Exchange Agreements with a further 16 countries. Tax Information Exchange Agreements are intended to facilitate the exchange of information between jurisdictions in order to aid in the enforcement of domestic tax laws.

In Progressive

Homes Ltd. v. Lombard General Insurance Company of Canada

2010 SCC 33, the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) held that a general contractor’s defective workmanship could constitute an “accident” for which coverage was available under its commercial general liability (“CGL”) insurance policies. The decision reverses a previous decision of B.C.’s Court of Appeal and resolves inconsistent case law amongst the Provinces. It clarifies when an insurer’s duty to defend arises, interprets CGL policy definitions of “property damage” and “accident”, and discusses when “work performed” exclusions apply.

Are you driving one of the top 10 most stolen cars? The National Insurance Crime Bureau just published its annual Hot Wheels vehicle theft report.

Facebook is increasingly being used as evidence in family law cases. Evidence posted is being used against the posters in court.

The US Food and Drug Administration "announced a crackdown on" chelation, "a controversial therapy widely hawked on the Internet and elsewhere as an alternative treatment for conditions such as autism, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease by 'cleansing' the body." The agency became alarmed about the growing promotion and easy availability of the products because the substances may cause serious health complications, including dehydration, kidney failure, and possibly death, officials said.

Google Inc. is road-testing cars that steer, stop and start without a human driver, the company says.

The goal is to "help prevent traffic accidents, free up people's time and reduce carbon emissions" through ride sharing and "the new 'highway trains of tomorrow,'" project leader Sebastian Thrun wrote Saturday on Google's corporate blog.

The New York Times reports that "despite a requirement that hospitals abide by a standard set of procedures to prevent surgical mistakes like operating on the wrong patient or the wrong body part, such errors continue to occur far too often," according to a paper in the Archives of Surgery.