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Tag: legal

  • How Canadians Fall for Betting through Big Sports?

    How Canadians Fall for Betting through Big Sports?

    Even though Canada is widely known as a calm and peaceful country, it doesn’t mean that local people are not prone to adventure. According to recent studies, 17% of Canadians have wagered money on sports betting activities in 2024. And this trend is about to grow, especially among young people who have reached the legal age. Why is it really the case? Canadians have always been passionate about specific sports like hockey, lacrosse, snowboarding, and ice skating. Now, they have a chance to spice up their experiences when watching sports events on TV or at the stadium.

    The Influence of Major Sports Leagues

    Canada’s love for sports plays a significant role in the rise of online betting. Hockey has always been regarded as the top sport in Canada. It doesn’t mean that Canadians aren’t eager to explore other sports. Canadians support the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens in the NHL. The Toronto Raptors in the NBA also have millions of fans across the country. Baseball, volleyball, and cricket betting lines are also quite popular among local citizens.

    Football is currently experiencing growing interest, especially among young people. Today it’s getting easy to find football communities in big cities such as Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal. Basketball amateur and professional leagues are also on the rise. According to the research study conducted by the Solutions Research Group, basketball has shown a 15% growth in popularity. If this trend continues, football and basketball have good chances to overtake hockey as Canada’s national sport.

  • A force to be reckoned with

    A force to be reckoned with

    Has your insurance company tried to invoke the clause of force majeure as a reason not to pay within your contract during these covid-19 times?

    Do not assume that it is an instant ‘win’ for them, you may well have grounds to fight.  
    This is one of the most extreme clauses to appear in any contract, however, don’t hear those two words and think all is lost. Business Matters seeks to shed some light on this area of law and show you how the language of the wording could be interpreted instead in your favour.
    “Please read this article and then refer to your own specific contractual wording. If in any doubt, please discuss your circumstances and case with your solicitor or insurance broker.”

    What is force majeure?

    A force majeure clause relieves a party from strict compliance with its contractual obligations where a force majeure event occurs. It is usual for parties to provide in a contract that such events will not make the defaulting party liable if they: prevent it from performing all or part of its contractual obligations, entitled to suspend performance of all or part of its obligations, or entitled to cancel the contract.
    Due to force majeure’s extreme nature it cannot be implied into a contract for that very reason.
    Sounds bad right? However, the law surrounding force majeure means that it’s not necessarily game over for you if your insurance company attempts to invoke it during these covid-19 times. 
    There are vast amounts of articles online regarding force majeure, debating it’s usage, yet in English law, there is no actual defined meaning or legal doctrine of force majeure which is why it is always so heavily debated.
    If your agreement contains a force majeure provision, your first point of scrutiny is the precise wording of the clause itself.
    Here’s why:
    The burden of proof lies with party claiming the clause. Your insurer will have to prove that an event so out of their control has rendered them unable to execute their obligations.

    Let’s break the key words down: 

    What qualifies as an ‘event’?

    Many of the contracts including force majeure will list specific events that will enable a party to invoke the use of it. This can range from natural disasters to terrorist attacks. Primarily, as case law shows, these are all documented events that occur in one singular moment.
    Post-SARS saw ‘epidemic’ or ‘pandemic’ drafted into many insurance contracts, yet even if the use of the word ‘pandemic’ is stated within the list of events for the force majeure clause, don’t forget that your commercial contract will still be interpreted using common law interpretations, you may well be within your rights to claim that a global pandemic does not actually qualify as an ‘event’ when in reference to a force majeure clause.
    Covid-19 was a fever, a flu, an epidemic and then a pandemic. The World Health Organisation (WHO) deemed it to be a global pandemic on the 11th March 2020, different insurance companies chose to invoke their varying levels of coverage to businesses and travel clients on many different dates, further weakening the overall affect of one singular ‘event’. Filtering their levels of cover with different dates for different clauses, has meant that you can argue that covid-19 as a pandemic did not occur within the common law interpretation of an event with relation to force majeureclauses.
    An ‘epidemic’ and a ‘pandemic’ are two very different things as well so if your contract only states ‘epidemic’ or ‘plague’ then they’re unlikely to be able to rely on the clause as well after the WHO deemed covid-19 to be a pandemic.
    If the terms used within your contract are all-encompassing and don’t specifically use the word ‘pandemic’, it will be even harder for your insurance company to prove that corona virus began on a specific date at a specific time, compared to the example of an earthquake or terrorist attack.
    Check: does your contract state outbreak of disease, epidemic or pandemic in relation to the ‘event’ or is it an all encompassing force majeure? 

    Genuine failure, or likely failure, to perform

    Even if the wording is vague or all-encompassing, the insurers will have to prove that covid-19 renders them unable to perform their side of the contract.
    There must be a genuine failure or likely failure to perform and it must be established that COVID-19 caused the failure to perform. The simple fact of COVID-19 existing will not be enough to be able to rely upon the force majeure provision, if the impact of the outbreak did not actually cause the party’s failure to perform the obligations.

    Prevents

    The event must prevent the affected party from performing its obligations under the contract.
    The meaning of the word ‘prevent’ was considered by the courts in Tennants (Lancashire) Ltd v G.S. Wilson & Co. Ltd [1917] AC 495 and it was concluded that if a force majeure clause provides that the relevant triggering event must ‘prevent’ performance, the relevant party must demonstrate that performance is legally or physically impossible, not just difficult or unprofitable.
    Good news from the English law courts here that will make your insurance company potentially squirm – just because the occurring event might cost the party considerably more money to execute the contract, it does not render the contract void or unable to be executed.
    Spend a happy hour Googling the net profits from all of the top twenty business insurers globally, as indeed we have at Business Matters, and you’ll see that even with their millions of clients, they are more than capable of executing their job in making payments, based on the fact that not everyone will make a claim. Even in the unlikely event that they can establish that the government’s lockdown constituted an ’event’ it can still be argued that with their handsome net profits, a rise in premiums, developments in online payments and working from home, the insurance companies can hardly argue that that force majeure can be relied upon by them, because they are still more than capable of paying for their liabilities under the contract. Covid-19 does not render them unable to process payments either.

    Other factors within the wording

    It is important to read over your clause and see if its use is contingent on any other factors. For example, does the clause require notice of the potential force majeure event to be given to you? If so, is there a specific time limit or format for the notice and does the notice need to include any specific information? Was that notice executed within the time frame to you?  
    Finally remember that as with all contractual clauses, the precise meaning and effect of a force majeure clause will depend on the specific wording of the clause and its interpretation. Specifically, the natural meaning of the words used, the context of the clause within the wording of the entirety of the contract as a whole and the specific information available to both parties when you entered into the contract.
    If you’re business owner, please don’t lose hope if you hear this phrase being uttered to you. Act quickly and check your specific contractual wording and let us know if you’re successful in fighting it.

  • Subpoena Received? Don't Be Left in the Dark – Health Cages

    Subpoena Received? Don't Be Left in the Dark – Health Cages

    Introduction 

    In the blog “What is a Subpoena?” readers delve into the intricacies of this legal document and its significance within the legal landscape. Exploring its etymology and legal origins, the blog elucidates how a subpoena serves as a powerful tool in compelling witness testimony or the submission of evidence in legal proceedings. It delves into the different types of subpoenas, such as subpoenas ad testificandum and subpoenas duces tecum, each tailored to specific evidentiary needs. Furthermore, the blog elucidates the procedural aspects of issuing and responding to subpoenas, shedding light on the rights and obligations of both the party issuing the subpoena and the recipient. Overall, the blog equips readers with a comprehensive understanding of the role and importance of subpoenas in the administration of justice.

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    We discuss these topics in this blog:

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    What is a Subpoena?

    In court, a subpoena acts like a witness summons. It’s a formal court order, requested by a lawyer, that compels someone to take action. 

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    There are two main types:

    1. Subpoena ad testificandum
    2. Subpoena duces tecum 

    lawyers use subpoenas to gather evidence for their clients, whether in criminal or civil cases.

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    A typical subpoena will be signed by a lawyer and specify the date, time, and location where the witness must appear in court.

    Subpoena ad testificandum

    A “subpoena ad testificandum” is a legal paper that tells someone they have to speak in court or at a legal meeting. When someone gets this type of paper, they have to go to a certain place at a certain time and talk while promising to tell the truth. If they don’t go after getting the paper, they could be in trouble, like getting fined or even going to jail. But sometimes, people can say they shouldn’t have to go, like if they have a special legal right or if it’s too hard for them to talk. Mostly, though, people have to follow this kind of paper, and not doing it without a good reason could cause big legal problems.

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    Subpoena duces tecum

    A “subpoena duces tecum” is a legal order that requires someone to give specific documents or items to the court, unlike a regular subpoena which is about speaking. These documents could be important evidence for a case, like papers or emails. If someone ignores a subpoena duces tecum, they could be held in contempt of court. However, they can challenge it if they have a valid reason, such as privacy concerns or not having the documents. Without a good reason, they could face legal consequences.

    It’s important to note that subpoenas must be delivered to the witness in person. 

    This responsibility falls on a process server, who must be at least 18 and unconnected to the case. Servers can be investigators or paralegals, but not someone directly involved like a witness or a party in the case. Handing the subpoena directly to the recipient is crucial. “Leaving it on the doorstep or mailing it doesn’t count,” explains attorney Iris Eytan. “For a subpoena to be valid, personal service is required.”

    What Happens When Someone Rejects a Subpoena?

    If someone refuses to accept a subpoena when it’s handed to them, but they still physically take it, they’ve still been served. Even if they drop it on the ground after being given it, as long as the server is sure of who they are, it counts as being served.

    There’s an option to skip the in-person delivery of subpoenas. They can be sent by mail instead. But the lawyer should ask the person if they’re okay with receiving it by mail. On every subpoena, there’s a part where the person can agree to get it by mail instead of in person. They just need to sign it and send it back, saying they got it.

    If you have a lawyer, they can accept the subpoena for you. They can also say the subpoena isn’t fair.

    For example, if you’re a therapist and someone wants your client’s records, it’s better to have a lawyer. That way, you don’t break any rules for being a therapist. If you’re a witness and you’re scared to go to court, a lawyer can help protect you and make sure your rights are respected.

    If someone is accused of a crime and can’t afford a lawyer, they get a public defender for free. But witnesses don’t get free lawyers. If you want legal help, it’s important to talk to a lawyer who knows about criminal cases.

    The Ramifications of Noncompliance with a Subpoena?

    Avoiding a subpoena or not showing up to court when you receive one can lead to being held in contempt of court, according to Eytan. Even if you attend court but refuse to answer questions, you could still face contempt charges and possible jail time, up to six months, or fines. If you receive a subpoena for documents, you must deliver them to the court by the requested date. You don’t have to go to court yourself but can drop off the records. To challenge a subpoena, you still need to go to court with the documents. There, you can explain reasons such as medical, attorney-client, or mental health privacy for not wanting the documents used in the case.

    Conclusion

    Understanding subpoenas is vital because they are legal documents that dictate what someone must do in court. It’s crucial to comply with them, as failing to do so can lead to serious consequences like being held in contempt of court. However, if you have legitimate reasons for not being able to comply, such as mental health issues, it’s important to seek guidance from a lawyer. Prioritizing your well-being while navigating legal matters is essential. Stay informed about your rights, seek assistance when necessary, and make sure to follow the rules to navigate subpoenas effectively and responsibly.

    Faq’s

    Q1. When is it appropriate to end a relationship with someone who has a mental illness?

    A1. If the relationship becomes emotionally taxing, negatively impacts your mental well-being, or displays persistent toxic behavior despite efforts to assist, it might be time to consider stepping back.

    Q2. What mental illness is particularly challenging to live with?

    A2. Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) stands out as one of the most agonizing mental health conditions. Not only does it cause significant distress, but it’s also exacerbated by societal stigma and misunderstanding. However, it’s crucial to note that BPD is treatable, offering hope for improvement.

    Q3. Which mental illness is frequently misdiagnosed?

    A3. Bipolar disorder often falls victim to misdiagnosis, potentially leading to harmful consequences if improperly treated. Numerous studies have shed light on the prevalence of misdiagnosing bipolar disorder.

    Q4. Do psychiatrists sometimes make diagnostic errors?

    A4. Regrettably, yes. Like any medical professional, psychiatrists can occasionally misdiagnose conditions. However, it’s important to recognize that they strive for accuracy, supported by ample research indicating their diagnostic competency.

    Q5. Can living with someone with a mental illness impact your mental health?

    A5. Absolutely. Mental illness doesn’t solely affect the individual experiencing it; it can also disrupt the lives of their family and loved ones. It’s normal to experience a range of emotions, such as anxiety, anger, frustration, or sadness when living with someone who has a mental illness.

    Dive deeper: Explore our blog for a wealth of mental health info:

  • Top Tips for successful recruitment

    Top Tips for successful recruitment

    How hard is it these days to get the right candidate for the available job you have? There are so many ways to attract interest, and even then when you have their attention you fail to shortlist the right ones or treat them dreadfully in interview!

    It is for this reason we regularly get asked for help with recruitment. The simplest rule of thumb in my opinion is to try and put yourself in the applicants shoes throughout the recruitment process – develop some empathy for the process and you will find it goes smoother. Failing that try the following instead:

    Advertisements

    Advertisements are your shop front. They need to attract the perfect candidate and entice them to want to apply for your job. They should, without going over the top, sell the job and company. Make your advertisement about the applicant not about you. An advert which is just a list of what you want the person to be like, and be able to do, just isn’t very appealing.
    Be clear with what you want and why. You must have some pre requisites of who and what the ideal candidate must be and have. This gives you grounds to reject applicants you feel are unsuitable; just make sure they are legal grounds! However ensure you understand why you need them; justify them against the job role.
    Keep it legal. Make sure your advertisement does not discriminate on the basis of any ‘protected characteristics’ – such as age, race, sex, disability, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, either directly ‘must be over 25’ or indirectly ‘recent graduate’ unless the requirement can be legally justified.
    Make it simple to apply. A detailed application form in this fast electronic age will put people off applying. Whilst you do not want people to just apply for the sake of it you also do not want to put barriers in their way. Instead ask for an up to date CV and cover letter detailing why they are interested so they have to put some effort in and then apply on line for jobs.
    Manage their expectations. Tell them when they can expect to hear and how, then stick to it. It makes you look professional.

    Shortlisting

    Avoid the assumptions. Whether you are shortlisting from agency CVs or your own advert don’t make assumptions about someone’s circumstances, motivation for applying or ambitions for the future, we are all different. For example we were recruiting for a physically challenging role within a warehouse and had the application from a 59 year old chap. Turns out he had been unemployed for some 6 months, and spent them down the gym. He told us he feared previous companies had rejected him as soon as they saw his age.
    Look for reasons to see people. A well written, considered letter, an accurate CV, relevant transferrable skills go a long way, even if they don’t perfectly match your criteria.
    Be consistent. Shortlist against the set criteria you used when creating your advertisement.       It was relevant then and remains relevant now! And stick to it; that will help avoid discrimination claims.
    Put the ball in their court. It is very easy to apply on line for jobs these days and whilst you don’t want to put people off you also want to be able to get rid of timewasters so check out how serious people are. If you receive a large response, which is possible, then put in a telephone interview stage or a further assessment but make them ring you.
    Be quick and always reply. It makes you look better than your competitors. Even if someone isn’t successful in obtaining employment they could be, or know, a prospective customer. Also the best people will go quickly so if you intend to run an advert make sure you have time to deal with the response.

    Follow these tips and create a more professional and successful recruitment process.

  • Some people are defending Perplexity after Cloudflare ‘named and shamed’ it

    When Cloudflare accused AI search engine Perplexity of stealthily scraping websites on Monday, while ignoring a site’s specific methods to block it, this wasn’t a clear-cut case of an AI web crawler gone wild.

    Many people came to Perplexity’s defense. They argued that Perplexity accessing sites in defiance of the website owner’s wishes, while controversial, is acceptable. And this is a controversy that will certainly grow as AI agents flood the internet: Should an agent accessing a website on behalf of its user be treated like a bot? Or like a human making the same request?

    Cloudflare is known for providing anti-bot crawling and other web security services to millions of websites. Essentially, Cloudflare’s test case involved setting up a new website with a new domain that had never been crawled by any bot, setting up a robots.txt file that specifically blocked Perplexity’s known AI crawling bots, and then asking Perplexity about the website’s content. And Perplexity answered the question.

    Cloudflare researchers found the AI search engine used “a generic browser intended to impersonate Google Chrome on macOS” when its web crawler itself was blocked. Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince posted the research on X, writing, “Some supposedly ‘reputable’ AI companies act more like North Korean hackers. Time to name, shame, and hard block them.”

    But many people disagreed with Prince’s assessment that this was actual bad behavior. Those defending Perplexity on sites like X and Hacker News pointed out that what Cloudflare seemed to document was the AI accessing a specific public website when its user asked about that specific website. 

    “If I as a human request a website, then I should be shown the content,” one person on Hacker News wrote, adding, “why would the LLM accessing the website on my behalf be in a different legal category as my Firefox web browser?”

    A Perplexity spokesperson previously denied to TechCrunch that the bots were the company’s and called Cloudflare’s blog post a sales pitch for Cloudflare. Then on Tuesday, Perplexity published a blog in its defense (and generally attacking Cloudflare), claiming the behavior was from a third-party service it uses occasionally.

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    But the crux of Perplexity’s post made a similar appeal as its online defenders did.

    “The difference between automated crawling and user-driven fetching isn’t just technical — it’s about who gets to access information on the open web,” the post said. “This controversy reveals that Cloudflare’s systems are fundamentally inadequate for distinguishing between legitimate AI assistants and actual threats.”

    Perplexity’s accusations aren’t exactly fair, either. One argument that Prince and Cloudflare used for calling out Perplexity’s methods was that OpenAI doesn’t behave in the same way.

    “OpenAI is an example of a leading AI company that follows these best practices,” Cloudflare wrote. “They respect robots.txt and do not try to evade either a robots.txt directive or a network level block. And ChatGPT Agent is signing http requests using the newly proposed open standard Web Bot Auth.”  

    Web Bot Auth is a Cloudflare-supported standard being developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force that hopes to create a cryptographic method for identifying AI agent web requests.

    The debate comes as bot activity reshapes the internet. As TechCrunch has previously reported, bots seeking to scrape massive amounts of content to train AI models have become a menace, especially to smaller sites. 

    For the first time in the internet’s history, bot activity is currently outstripping human activity online, with AI traffic accounting for over 50%, according to Imperva’s Bad Bot report released last month. Most of that activity is coming from LLMs. But the report also found that malicious bots now make up 37% of all internet traffic. That’s activity that includes everything from persistent scraping to unauthorized login attempts.

    Until LLMs, the internet generally accepted that websites could and should block most bot activity given how often it was malicious by using CAPTCHAs and other services (such as Cloudflare). Websites also had a clear incentive to work with specific good actors, such as Googlebot, guiding it on what not to index through robots.txt. Google indexed the internet, which sent traffic to sites.

    Now, LLMs are eating an increasing amount of that traffic. Gartner predicts that search engine volume will drop by 25% by 2026. Right now humans tend to click website links from LLMs at the point they are most valuable to the website, which is when they are ready to conduct a transaction.

    But if humans adopt agents as the tech industry predicts they will — to arrange our travel, book our dinner reservations, and shop for us — would websites hurt their business interests by blocking them? The debate on X captured the dilemma perfectly:

    “I WANT perplexity to visit any public content on my behalf when I give it a request/task!” wrote one person in response to Cloudflare calling out Perplexity. “What if the site owners don’t want it? they just want you [to] directly visit the home, see their stuff” argued another, pointing out that the site owner who created the content wants the traffic and potential ad revenue, not to let Perplexity take it.

    “This is why I can’t see ‘agentic browsing’ really working — much harder problem than people think. Most website owners will just block,” a third predicted.