Thursday, March 1, 2012

Don't overuse rhetoric

GasTOPS Ltd. v. Forsyth, 2012 ONCA 134
is an appeal following a trial lasting 295 days for breach of fiduciary duty, breach of confidence and breach of their contract of employment.

In the appeal the court commented that rhetorical language in a factum was unhelpful. The case is a useful reminder that the Court is not helped by rhetoric but rather by facts. The Court notes:

[43]    In their factum, the appellants variously describe the finding of ten years as "staggering", "remarkable", and "extraordinary".  Such rhetoric is unhelpful.  They go so far as to say that the finding "was motivated in large part by a desire to punish" the appellants, an assertion I find to be completely unwarranted.

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