Michael H. Lubetsky*

Tax Matters

• Acted for various members of the Ghermezian family before the Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal in a case involving the scope of the Canada Revenue Agency’s audit powers
• Acted for Glenn French before the Federal Court of Appeal in a case involving the bijural interpretation of the word “gift” in Income Tax Act
• Acted for Glencore Canada Corporation in a tax appeal before the Ontario Superior Court (Commercial List) in a dispute involving Ontario mining tax
• Acted for National Money Mart in a tax appeal before the Tax Court of Canada involving the characterisation of “financial services” under the Excise Tax Act
• Acted for a subsidiary of Target Corporation in a tax appeal before the Tax Court of Canada involving application of the thin-capitalisation rules of the Income Tax Act
• Acted for EDF Renewables Canada Inc. in a tax appeal before the Tax Court of Canada involving the characterisation of its wind farms for tax purposes
• Acted for the Tax and Customs Agency of the Kingdom of Denmark in the Ontario Superior Court (Commercial List) against three Canadian pension plans to recover tax refunds paid out over the course of a multi-billion-dollar fraudulent scheme
• Acted for the owners of the Bell Campus in Montréal in a tax appeal before the Tax Court of Canada in a case involving the application of the general anti-avoidance rule
• Acted for Exiros Canada Inc. in a tax appeal before the Tax Court of Canada in a case involving transfer-pricing
• Acted for Michael Rosenberg before the Federal Court in a seminal case involving the enforcement of a settlement agreement against the CRA
• Acted for Glenn Chamandy before the Federal Court in a case involving the enforcement of a compliance order
• Acted for Picchio Pharma Inc. in a tax appeal before the Tax Court of Canada in a case involving the valuation of a biotech company
• Acted for a major property development group in a case involving contestation of late-filing penalties (successfully resolved at the objection phase with the Canada Revenue Agency)

Non-Tax Matters

• Acted for Wärtsilä Canada Inc., before the Supreme Court of Canada in a constitutional case over the applicability of the Civil Code of Québec to a dispute governed by Canadian maritime law
• Acted for Egale Canada in its intervention before the Québec Superior Court and the Québec Court of Appeal in a constitutional challenge to 11 provisions of the Civil Code of Québec concerning birth registrations and identity documents for trans, non-binary and intersex people)
• Acted for the Liquor Control Board of Ontario in its successful defence against a $1.4 billion-plus class action involving application of the regulated conduct defence
• Acted for Kevric before the Québec Superior Court, Québec Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Canada in a case involving the interpretation of a rarely-litigated standard provision in liability insurance contracts
• Acted for a group of littoral property owners before the Québec Superior Court, Québec Court of Appeal in what has become the leading case on Article 997 of the Civil Code of Québec
• Acted for Aldo Group before the Ontario Superior Court (Commercial List), the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada in a case involving the opposability of forum selection clauses to third parties
• Acted for the guardians of a seven-year-old child before the Québec Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada in a groundbreaking case with respect to assisted procreation

Pro Bono

• Representing Egale Canada—Canada’s leading organization for 2SLGBTQI+ people and issues—in its intervention in the Center for Gender Advocacy v Québec trans rights litigation that was heard and decided by the Québec Superior Court (2021 QCCS 191) and is currently under appeal before the Québec Court of Appeal (Docket #500-09-029391-216; appeal heard in April 2022 and currently under advisement)
• Acted for Egale Canada in making submissions to the Department of Finance in September 2022 concerning proposed reforms to the medical expense tax credit as it pertains to surrogacy and assisted reproduction arrangements (https://egale.ca/awareness/budget-2022-consultation-tax-credit-for-surrogacy-related-medical-expenses/)
• Acted for the guardians of a seven-year-old child in a groundbreaking case with respect to assisted procreation (LB v. GN (Droit de la famille — 111729), 2011 QCCA 1180, leave to appeal to the SCC refused)