Appellate Quarterly 04/10/25 – Key Takeaways

On April 10, 2025, McCarthy Tétrault's National Appellate Litigation Group hosted its second Appellate Quarterly webinar of the year, featuring five appeals of importance to the business community and the law around the country. Laura Gill, Jean-Philippe Mathieu, Kevan Hanowski, Michael (Ruofan) Cui, and Connor Bildfell discussed these recent appellate developments, as well as upcoming cases and future developments in their respective jurisdictions.

1. The role of negotiation evidence in interpreting contracts [Alberta]

In IFP Technologies (Canada) Inc. v. EnCana Midstream and Marketing ("IFP"), the Court of Appeal of Alberta concluded that evidence of negotiations is not itself admissible, unless such evidence demonstrates the factual matrix.¹ The Court recently reaffirmed this principle in Chemtrade Electrochem Inc. v. Superior Plus Corporation.² In that case, Superior Plus Corporation ("Superior") and Canexus Corporation ("Canexus") entered into an agreement