INCOME TAX |
Practice |
Pitney Bowes of Canada Ltd. v. Canada
T-895-02
2003 FCT 214, O'Reilly J.
24/2/03
14 pp.
Motion pursuant to Income Tax Act, s. 232(4) to determine whether applicants have solicitor-client privilege in respect of certain documents thus protecting them from disclosure to Canada Customs and Revenue Agency--Whether privilege lost when legal opinions shared with other parties to transaction--Courts should also recognize common interest privilege based on parties' common interest in successful completion of transaction; economic and social values inherent in fostering commercial transactions favour recognition of such privilege: Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP v. Canada (Minister of National Revenue), [2002] B.C.J. No. 2146--Whether privilege lost question of fact turning on number of factors, including expectations of parties and nature of disclosure--In certain commercial transactions parties share legal opinions in effort to put them on equal footing during negotiations and, in that sense, opinions for benefit of multiple parties, even though prepared for single client-- Opinions herein prepared with distribution in mind-- Presumption privilege should be maintained unless some evidence suggesting privilege somehow waived, disclosed to outsiders or otherwise terminated--As no such evidence herein, documents privileged and should remain in custody of McMillan Binch--Income Tax Act, R.S.C., 1985 (5th Supp.), c. 1, s. 232(4).