The recent decision in Envoy Relocation Services Inc. v. Canada (Attorney General) certainly deserves the title of Mother of All Tender Cases.  It is a judgment of over 1800 paragraphs in which Mr. Justice Annis of the Superior Court of Ontario analyzed and found in great depth how an invitation to tender by the federal [...]

Not all requests for bids issued by an owner are the same. A request for bids that will be binding on the chosen bidder is usually referred to as an Invitation to Tender.  On the other hand, a request for bids which is not binding on the chosen bidder is usually referred to as a [...]

Is an owner entitled to look behind a bid submitted in response to an invitation to tender and determine whether it is compliant with the terms of the invitation to tender, even though on its face the bid is compliant? And if the owner does so, and determines that the bid is non-compliant, can the [...]

Most commercial agreements contain a clause stating that the contract is binding upon and for the benefit of “successors.”  For example, Article 10.1 of the CCDC Cost Plus Contract states that the contract “shall enure to the benefit of and be binding on…successors”. What does the word “successors” mean?  Who are “successors”?  Do those who [...]

Can inaction by a party to a contract amount to an acceptance of the repudiation of the contract by the other party?  That was the issue in the very recent decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal in Brown v. Belleville (City). This is an important issue in construction law because of the critical effect [...]

An agreement to mediate is often found in arbitration and building contracts. Yet, the impact of mediation upon court or arbitral proceedings is uncertain. Does an agreement to mediate mean that, until the mediation occurs, there is no cause of action and therefore there is no entitlement to commence arbitration or an action?  In that [...]

The Ontario Court of Appeal recently dealt with the issue of what sort of representations amount to fraud, and what representations survive an “entire agreements” clause. In Iatomasi v. Conciatori, the Court of Appeal held that when, during the pre-contractual negotiations for the sale of a building , a vendor delivers plans to a purchaser, [...]

Two recurring issues in construction law are the authority of agents and liquidated damages. The agency issue is this:  if the principal is to be made liable on a contract made by the agent, must the principal, and not the agent, be the one that promotes the agent’s authority? The damage issue is this:  can [...]

A building contract usually includes a term requiring that the work or materials supplied adhere to the specifications. The contract may also contain implied or express warranties that the work will be fit for the intended purposes of the building project and free of defects. What happens when those terms result in inconsistent results? What [...]