Canadian Lawyer

10 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 5 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m \ AT L A N T I C \ C E N T R A L \ W E S T REGIONAL WRAP-UP DEVELOPING A TASTE FOR OKANAGAN WINE T he grape harvest is in full swing in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley this month and Alberta lawyers are among those reaping the harvest. One of them is labour and employment lawyer Jim D'Andrea, a partner in the Calgary office of Bennett Jones. D'Andrea has been hooked on wine for a long time and in 1998, on a backpacking sabbati- cal with his wife Leslie and their three children in Europe, he decided he really wanted to own a winery. The couple looked in France and in Ontario's Niagara Peninsula, but in 2000, they decided to buy 24 acres in Okanagan Falls. Only three of those acres had vines, but the D'Andreas knew it was a beginning. Since then they have purchased a neighbour's property and now have a total of 34 acres, 22 of which have vines. D'Andrea is coy about how much it all cost. "Let's just say we got in at the right time." He is still "yes, absolutely" in love with the industry even though he now knows very well the pain and pressure that goes into producing a beautiful bottle of wine. He is proud of the medals his Noble Ridge Vineyard & Winery has won and of the reception his wines recently received at a suc- cessful tasting in London. And the really good news is that the winery is now breaking even. W E S T T he Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario has rejected a law firm's attempt to dismiss a founding partner's human rights claim after finding signifi- cant distinctions between Ontario's Human Rights Code and the B.C. statute considered by the Supreme Court of Canada in McCormick v. Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP. "I accept the intervenor [Ontario Human Rights Commission]'s proposition that the right to 'contract on equal terms' and the 'right to equal treatment with respect to employment' in the Code cannot be construed to protect an associ- ate lawyer who is employed in a large law firm from pregnancy (gender) based discrimination but automatically deny her that same protection the day that she enters into a partnership agreement with that same law firm," wrote adjudicator Yola Grant in her July interim decision in Swain v. MBM Intellectual Property Law LLP, a firm with offices in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, and Quebec. "It seems to be the first clear decision with respect to a law partnership post-McCormick," Lerners LLP partner Gillian Hnatiw told Law Times. Ontario's human rights statute, according to Grant, "is not contingent on establishing 'employee' status. The language of section 5 of the Code is broad and general in that it provides a right to equal treatment 'with respect to employment.'" Margaret Swain was a founding partner of MBM who's a former spouse of one of the personal respondents in the case, Randy Marusyk. She alleges prior to her removal from the firm, there were rumours she had psychological illnesses that affected her performance and relationships and she derived certain benefits because of her status as former spouse. She claims her removal involved various prohibited grounds under the Human Rights Code, including gender, family status, and perceived disability. None of the allegations have been proven. The firm and two personal respondents, Marusyk and Scott Miller, sought to dismiss the case on grounds including lack of jurisdiction and overlap with civil claims brought by Swain. In her July 29 ruling, Grant dismissed most of the respondents' requests, but accepted the application to defer the human rights case pending the conclusion of one of the civil claims. Ranjan Agarwal, one of the lawyers representing Swain, says the decision is important as it "confirms what many of us in the Ontario human rights bar believed: s. 3 of the Ontario Human Rights Code, which prohibits discrimination with respect to the right to contract, makes the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in McCormick v. Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP virtually inapplicable in this province." Scott Miller, co-managing partner at MBM, declined to comment, but did point to Grant's deferral of Swain's matter. "Moreover, the tribunal correctly noted that, if and when the stay is ever lifted, there remains a significant issue whether the matter will proceed given the alleged complaint faces problems juxtaposed against the limitation period for bringing such an action." — GLENN KAUTH glenn.kauth@thomsonreuters.com Firm partners can bring human rights claims: HRTO A DAILY BLOG OF CANADIAN LEGAL NEWS VISIT LEGALFEEDS.CA FEEDS LEGAL POWERED BY V O T E D BEST NEWS BLOG CLAWBIES 2015 Untitled-2 1 2015-04-20 9:08 AM

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