by Mark Tottenham BL | May 31, 2021 | Duties of expert witnesses, Role of decision maker
“The Ontario Court of Appeal in Parliament v. Conley, 2021 ONCA 261 has provided a refresher for judges, experts and counsel on the roles each plays when dealing with expert evidence: 1. Judges must exercise their gatekeeping role throughout the testimony of...
by Mark Tottenham BL | May 6, 2021 | Examples of expert evidence
In a recent case, the Ontario Court of Appeal allowed an appeal from the conviction of a man for firebombing his ex-wife’s house. Messages sent on various apps had not been subjected to examination to see whether they could have been sent to ‘frame’...
by Mark Tottenham BL | Jan 8, 2020 | Admissibility of expert evidence
This article highlights the difficulties involved where one party seeks to exclude expert evidence. The suggestion is that, where a judge acts as ‘gatekeeper’, there may be an imbalance arising from the judge’s lack of technical understanding. In...
by Mark Tottenham BL | Dec 3, 2019 | Examples of expert evidence
Subway’s case against the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) has been dismissed, based on expert testimony. CBC had accused Subway of selling ‘chicken’ that was 50% soy. “There is considerable divergence between Subway’s evidence and that...
by Mark Tottenham BL | Nov 18, 2019 | Admissibility of expert evidence, Education of decision makers
The courts of Ontario have given guidance to expert witnesses who wish to use PowerPoint-type slides in their presentations in jury trials. The key points are as follows: “As a result of the foregoing I gave parties the following guidelines for use of PowerPoint...
