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Law of Intestacy in Ontario
Ontario has statutory provisions that detail who inherits an estate when the deceased did not have a valid Will.
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Dangers of A Younger Wife
The romantic entanglement of an elderly parent in failing physical and mental health can be a nightmare for children. [read more]
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Abuses of Trust / Fiduciary
In KJA Consultants Inc. v. Soberman (2002), 17 C.C.E.L. (3d) 261 Soberman was a very important employee who basically ran the business for 14 years. He was the point man for virtually all the clients. To the public at large Soberman was KJA. Management made no plans for his departure and no one else in the company knew the internal workings of the plaintiff. The owner’s health prevented him from stepping in when Soberman quit and that left the company very vulnerable.
After Soberman quit, he sent a letter out to all KJA customers along with his brochure saying, “If I can be of assistance, please do not hesitate to call.”
At issue was whether Soberman, by virtue of having been such an important employee, was precluded from competing with his employer. Their contract did not contain a non competition clause, but KJA argued that in common law, Soberman was a “key Man” who owed fiduciary duties to his former employer which included a duty not to use knowledge he acquired by virtue of his position in order to take significant clients away.
The court found that Soberman’s direct solicitation of his former employer’s customers constituted a clear breach of his fiduciary responsibility to KJA. The court based its decision on the fact that Soberman used his knowledge of KJA’s customers to target specific people within the customer organizations in order to get the business. That was a misuse of KJA’s confidential information.
The plaintiff succeeded in obtaining some injunctive relief against its former employee and obtained orders preventing him from doing further new work for his former employer’s clients. The court also ordered Soberman not to further solicit customers or use confidential information. However, the work already in process was permitted to be completed so as not to negatively impact on innocent third parties. The law suit continued with respect to the plaintiff’s attempts to disgorge profits.
Do not consider this case review as legal advice. It is presented merely to demonstrate some of the commercial litigation disputes dealt with by this firm and its counsel and how one court dealt with some of the issues relating to the common law obligations a departing employee when competing with his former employer. It is important to remember that each case has a different set of facts which may give rise to additional and or different remedies or prevent the court from awarding the same type of relief. If you believe your fact situation is similar and litigation may be pending or has already begun, it is always prudent to contact a competent lawyer who will deal with the specific fact situation and legal issues particular to your case.