Exclusion clauses are a common feature of agreements of purchase and sale and other commercial contracts. While often subject to negotiation, parties sometimes proceed with standard form exclusion clauses that may inject uncertainty into what claims or implied statutory obligations are excluded from the parties agreement. In the event of a later dispute, the scope and import of the exclusion clause will be of considerable importance.
Early 2022 decisions interpreting Ontario s new mandatory dismissal for delay regime were glad tidings for defendants, suggesting the regime would be strictly applied. However, over the course of 2022, the pendulum swung in the other direction, with an increasingly flexible approach being applied.
In our 2023 edition of Looking Forward, we review notable class action developments from the past year and consider what recent trends in the law might tell us about what to expect in the years ahead.