Simon's Legal Resources

Review - Errors of Law - Ineffective Assistance of Counsel (6)

. De Longte v. De Longte

In De Longte v. De Longte (Ont CA, 2026) the Ontario Court of Appeal considers a fresh evidence motion, here in a family law IAC context:

[10] We admit the fresh evidence in relation to the ineffective assistance of counsel allegations in order to consider the allegations and whether there was a miscarriage of justice: R. v. Joanisse (1995), 1995 CanLII 3507 (ON CA), 102 C.C.C. (3d) 35 (Ont. C.A.), at pp. 43-44, leave to appeal to S.C.C. refused, [1996] S.C.C.A. No. 347; R. v. Widdifield (1995), 1995 CanLII 3505 (ON CA), 25 O.R. (3d) 161 (C.A.), at pp. 169-70. As noted above, we found no merit to the ineffective assistance of counsel allegations.

. De Longte v. De Longte

In De Longte v. De Longte (Ont CA, 2026) the Ontario Court of Appeal considers the appellant's IAC argument, here in a family law context:

[4] The appellant also raises ineffective assistance of trial counsel as a ground of appeal. In civil matters, ineffective assistance of counsel as a ground of appeal is limited to the “rarest of cases”, involving some overriding public interest or the interests of certain types of vulnerable persons. It is not available as a ground of appeal in purely private disputes, such as this appeal: see D.W. v. White et al. (2004), 2004 CanLII 22543 (ON CA), 189 O.A.C. 256 (C.A.), at para. 55, leave to appeal refused, [2004] S.C.C.A. No. 486; OZ Merchandizing Inc. v. Canadian Professional Soccer League Inc., 2021 ONCA 520, at para. 44, leave to appeal refused, [2021] S.C.C.A. No. 328; Ricketts v. Veerisingnam, 2025 ONSC 841, at para. 47. In any event, we see no merit to the appellant’s claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel.