Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution
Charter of Rights/Constitutional Law
Lerners has been at the forefront of some of the most significant constitutional litigation in the past 20 years and has helped shape the interpretation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Lerners has also helped resolve complex questions related to the proper jurisdictions of the federal and provincial governments.
Expertise in constitutional law is an asset that Lerners employs effectively in all manner of disputes where government action is at issue, directly or indirectly.
Some of Lerners' leading constitutional cases include:
Chaoulli and Zeliotis v. Attorney General in Right of Quebec.
We acted for 10 senators who were members of a senate committee that completed a study of Canada's health care system in a matter relating to the constitutionality, under section 7 of the Charter, of the current heath care regime.
The Federal Reference re Same-Sex Marriage
Lerners represented an intervener at the Supreme Court of Canada.
Halpern v. Ontario
Lerners represented the interests of the intervener, Inter-Faith Coalition on Marriage and the Family, at the Superior Court and at the Ontario Court of Appeal in Ontario's same-sex marriage case in which the common law, opposite-sex definition of marriage was challenged by, inter alia, eight same-sex couples seeking the legal right to marry.
M. v. H.
In this landmark equality case which challenged the opposite-sex definition of spouse in Part III of the Family Law Act, leading to the inclusion of a "same-sex partner" category in the FLA and prompting a plethora of legislative changes, Lerners represented the interests of the intervener, the Inter-Faith Coalition on Marriage and the Family.
Adler v. Ontario/Bal v. Ontario
Lerners represented an intervener at the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Canada in these important companion cases on the rights of religious minorities in the public education system.
Egan v. Canada
In this important equality rights case involving the definition of spouse in old-age security legislation, in which sexual orientation was first recognized to be an analogous ground of discrimination under section 15(1) of the Charter, Lerners represented the interests of the intervener, the Inter-Faith Coalition on Marriage and the Family.
Ramsden v. Peterborough
Lerners represented the respondent in this appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada in which the Court considered freedom of expression and the right of access to public places for peaceful expression.
Dielman v. Ontario
Lerners acted for the defendants in this leading case on the right to peacefully conduct political picketing on public streets and sidewalks.
