Written by: Matthew K. LeBlanc What happens when a company terminates someone who is both an employee and a shareholder? In Kirke v Spartan Controls Ltd, 2025 ABCA 40 (“Spartan Controls”), the Alberta Court of Appeal reiterated the distinction between a person’s employment rights and their shareholder rights, and held that the payments owed upon […]
In a recent article, (In New Brunswick, When Do You Become “Common-Law”?), we discussed how long it takes to become common-law in New Brunswick. In that article, we mentioned that common-law couples do not have the same rights as married couples, and there is no presumption of equal division of property on separation. However, you […]
These days, almost every couple lives together for a period of time before they get married, and more and more couples are deciding to never get married at all. We get a lot of questions about common-law status, such as how long does it take to become “common-law”, what does it mean, and do we […]
Is an employee entitled to incentive compensation as part of their “reasonable notice” damages when terminated from employment? That is often the $1 million (or even $10,000) question. Background It is well established at common law that an employee who is terminated without cause is entitled to be provided with reasonable advance notice and, failing […]
The facts in Noel v. Butler, 2016 NBCA 49, [Noel] are not complicated. This was a fourteen year common law relationship spanning from approximately 1998 until 2012. Ms. Butler had been a teacher since 1985 and had pension with a commuted value of $909,286.51 as of the date of separation.