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REGIONAL WRAP UP recalled in a recent interview at his downtown Montreal office. "But I was determined to go all the way and so was my client." Although the product's lifespan was supposed to be at least 15 years, Combustion Engineering refused to repair the superheater, pointing to its liability clause. As a result, Domtar replaced the unit with one made by Combustion Engi- neering's competitor Babcock & Wilcox. During that time, Combustion Engi- Oliver Kott's case lasted decades. Quebec must be aware that only in rare cases will it be able to avoid liability for the consequences of latent de- fects in its products by relying on the exclusionary clauses in its contracts." As a result, he says manufacturers and other professional sellers will have to be more open about their products while purchas- ers will also have to be clearer about their needs and specifications. Kott naturally wasn't alone in the neering was acquired by ABB Inc., the Montreal division of ABB of Switzerland; and Alstom Canada Inc., a subsidiary of SA of France. ABB and Alstom became the defendants. Over the years, the case went from Quebec Court to Quebec Superior Court then to the provincial Court of Appeal before making its way to the Supreme Court. In its unanimous decision handed down Nov. 22, the highest court upheld the appeal court's ruling that found ABB and Alstom couldn't rely on the limita- tions of a liability clause in its Domtar contract, since the companies knew, or were presumed to have known, about the defects. The Supreme Court rejected the ar- gument that Domtar was obligated to enquire about the characteristics of the product and was bound by the limita- tion if it had not done so. It awarded Domtar the nearly $39 million in mate- rial damages, business losses for a two- week period and 18 years worth of inter- est on those amounts. Kott calls the ruling a landmark. "It clarifies that a manufacturer who sells in CORRECTION: Calgary is a high energy town The February 2008 issue of Cana- dian Lawyer contained an incomplete chart reflecting Calgary's largest firms. The corrected listing appears below. We regret the error. Bennett Jones LLP ....................166 Macleod Dixon LLP .................164 lengthy legal battle against ABB and Als- tom's lawyers, from both Lavery de Billy LLP and Stikeman Elliott LLP. "A lot of lawyers came and went; 15 in all." One of them, Gregory B. Bordan, was with Kott from start to finish. The duo's primary areas of practice include product liabil- ity and professional liability (Kott) and manufacturer's liability (Bordan). It wasn't a clean sweep for Ogilvy Re- nault, however. Domtar lost its Supreme Court challenge against the Arkwright Mutual Assurance Co., which it sued over an "all risk" insurance policy the forestry company had with them. Three more lawyers Kott faced — fa- ther and son Gordon and Stuart Kugler, and Michael Kay, all of whom from Montreal's Kugler Kandestin LLP — successfully argued before the Supreme and Quebec courts that the Arkwright policy couldn't cover damages because of a clause that excluded damages result- ing from latent defects. In an understatement, Kott acknowl- edges, "It was a very interesting and challenging case." — MIKE KING mking@videotron.ca Burnet Duckworth & Palmer LLP ...........................131 Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP ....129 Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP .105 Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP ........................104 Borden Ladner Gervais LLP ...... 99 McCarthy Tétrault LLP ............. 85 Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP .. 60 Stikeman Elliott LLP .................. 48 10 M ARCH 2008 www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com Miller Thomson LLP ................. 41 Field LLP ..................................... 36 Parlee McLaws LLP .................... 33 Heenan Blaikie LLP ................... 28 Davis LLP ................................... 25 Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP ........................... 21 McLennan Ross LLP .................. 18 May Jensen Shawa Solomon LLP . 16 Brownlee LLP ............................. 11 Could Ontario abolish articling? T he Law Society of Upper Canada task force will take to the road across Ontario to ask the profession if there's a better way to license and admit lawyers to the bar. Even the abol- ishment of articles is on the table. The task force's report, which passed in amended format on Jan. 24, expressed concern that the province's firms will soon be un- able to accommodate hundreds of students seeking articling place- ments. The combined pressure of increased intake at Ontario law schools, an influx of foreign- trained lawyers, and the prospect of up to three new law schools in the province could leave many law students with nowhere to go once they graduate from law school. "This is a freight train coming down the track and we have to be thoughtful, creative, and mindful of the size of this train," said task force member and Bencher Laurie Pawlitza at the January law soci- ety meeting. The report shows the current demand for approximate- ly 1,300 articling spots is estimated to rise to 1,730 — a 30-per-cent increase — by 2009. "I urge Con- vocation to think about the differ- ence between being unable now to