MEDIATUBE REVIEW PROFESSIONAL

Relationship with client - Duty to client - General - Obligation of loyalty. Relationship with client - Duty to client - General - Extent or limits of duty.

MEDIATUBE REVIEW PROFESSIONAL

sued Bell Canada and Bell Aliant, claiming relief for patent infringement - Bell Canada and Bell Aliant (the applicants) moved for an order removing Bereskin and Parr (B&P) as solicitors of record for MediaTube, asserting that there was a conflict of interest - The applicants asserted that BCE and the Bell family of companies were current clients of B&P and former clients on other retainers and that B&P owed a duty of loyalty to the Bell family - They relied on, inter alia, the fact that BCE had a single legal department which provided services to all of the Bell entities - Bell Canada was not a current client of B&P and Bell Aliant had never been a client - The Federal Court held that B&P's retainers with Bell entities related to or falling under the Bell corporate umbrella did not establish a solicitor-client relationship with BCE or the Bell family of companies - The previous Bell retainers and the MediaTube retainer were not sufficiently related to give rise to a presumption that relevant confidential information was imparted to B&P - The bright line rule was not engaged because the applicants were not current clients of B&P - Even if the rule was engaged, its scope would have been narrowed because the applicants were professional litigants - There was no substantial risk that B&P's representation of MediaTube would be materially and adversely affected - The only ground on which B&P's disqualification could be sought was to maintain the repute of the administration of justice - B&P had not acted in bad faith by intentionally manufacturing a situation in which the applicants would become former clients - It was unrealistic to assume that if a law firm was retained by one entity within a large group of companies, that it was retained by the whole and all of its parts - There was no justification to forever bar B&P from taking unrelated retainers against Bell or other entities in the Bell family because of past Bell retainers - B&P's disqualification was not called for - See paragraphs 100 to 159.

was the parent company of several corporations, including Bell Canada - Bell Aliant Regional Communications Limited Partners (Bell Aliant) was an indirect subsidiary of Bell Canada - MediaTube Corp.

Relationship with client - General - Solicitor-client relationship - What constitutes - BCE Inc. Bell Canada and Bell Aliant moved for an order removing Bereskin and Parr (B&P) as solicitors of record for MediaTube, asserting that there was a conflict of interest arising from Bell Canada's and Bell Aliant's past and current relationship as a client of B&P. sued Bell Canada and Bell Aliant Regional Communications Limited Partners, claiming relief for patent infringement. Bell Canada and Bell Aliant Regional Communications, Limited Partners (defendants)

Mediatube review