Limited Liability Partnerships, Final Report 77

In Alberta, professionals conduct their trades through professional corporations, which do not entitle these professionals to the same types of limited liability protection enjoyed by shareholders in traditional business corporations. The issue this report considers is whether certain professions, which are currently required to practice in unlimited liability firms (such as accounting, legal, and health care), should be allowed to practice through limited liability firms. This report recommends that these professions, and all others, be […]

April 29, 1999

Limited Liability Partnerships and Other Hybrid Business Entities, Issues Paper 4

At the time of this paper’s publication, certain types of professionals (namely, accountants, lawyers, and certain health care professionals) were required to work in a setting of “unlimited liability,” meaning that the individual professionals could be held liable for debts and other liabilities incurred by the company for which they worked. This paper addresses the issue of that unlimited liability, and suggests that there was a “liability crisis” at the time, and therefore an urgent […]

March 4, 1998

Last Clear Chance Rule, Final Report 75

This report recommends that the Contributory Negligence Act (CNA) be amended to abolish the common-law rule known as the “last clear chance” rule. The “last clear chance” rule applied where both the contributory negligence of a plaintiff and the fault of a defendant caused loss to the plaintiff and where one of the them had a “last clear chance” to avoid the effect of the other’s fault and failed to do so. If the defendant was the […]

August 29, 1997

Interspousal Tort Immunity, Final Report 33

This report addresses the issue of whether inter-spousal tort immunity should be abolished. It addresses the present state of the law in Alberta, other common law provinces of Canada, and other Commonwealth countries. It assesses arguments for retaining interspousal tort immunity, and looks particularly at the reasons for domestic harmony, collusion, indirect benefit from own wrongful conduct, and subrogation. This report concludes that there is no merit in placing any restriction upon the type of […]

April 3, 1979

Guest Passenger Legislation, Final Report 32

Neither the common law nor statute law has taken a consistent approach to the guest or gratuitous passenger. This report presents arguments in favour of the guest passenger legislation and arguments in favour of repealing the guest passenger legislation. The report notes that today a large number of guest passengers do not get “something for nothing” and that the probability of reciprocal benefit makes it fair to impose liability on the driver for his or […]

April 2, 1979

Survival of Actions and Fatal Accidents Act Amendment, Final Report 24

This report of produced after concern arose from the decision in the Crosby v O’Reilly case. A working paper was produced and a committee was appointed for the purpose of considering the specific question of whether the claim for damages for loss of expectation of life should be abolished and the broader question of the adoption of the Uniform Survival of Actions Act. This report examines the existing common law in Alberta, legislative change and […]

April 1, 1977

The Contributory Negligence Act and the Tortfeasors Act

January 2, 1974