May 21st, 2013
As I recently wrote, the Ontario court will give procedural assistance to foreign courts, allowing foreign litigants to examine witnesses and collect evidence in Ontario by enforcing "letters of request" from foreign courts. The Court of Appeal has just released a decision extending the concept to a Canadian Crown corporation (in that case, AECL Canada) - an interesting step because Crown corporations are traditionally 'protected' by the concept of Crown immunity. The decision permits US litigants to come to Canada to compel even a Crown corporation to produce evidence and witnesses relevant to an ongoing dispute in the US (in that case, an insurance coverage dispute).
