Preliminary Program
Emerging Issues in Tort Law: A Conference
The University of Western Ontario
Thursday, June 8th
8:00 p.m.
Wine and Cheese Reception  Station Park Hotel
Friday, June 9th
8:15 a.m.
Continental Breakfast  Closed Student Lounge
8:45 a.m.
Welcome Address  Room 36
Dean Ian Holloway  University of Western Ontario
9:00 a.m.
Structural Issues in Tort Law  Room 36
Chair:
The Honourable Justice Robert Sharpe 
Court of Appeal for Ontario
Presentations:
Peter Cane  Australian National University
Tort Law: The General and the Special Parts
Mayo Moran  University of Toronto
The Influence of Constitutional Values on the Law of Torts
Richard Lewis  Cardiff Law School
The Influence of Insurers upon the System of Compensation
for Personal Injury
Commentator:
10:30 a.m.
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Allan Beever  University of Auckland
Health Break  Closed Student Lounge
10:45 a.m.
Tort Law and the State  Room 36
Chair:
The Honourable Chief Justice Michael MacDonald 
Nova Scotia Court of Appeal
Presentations:
Lewis Klar  University of Alberta
Breach of Statutory Duty: Negligence, Misfeasance In
Public Office, and the Economic Torts
Erika Chamberlain  University of Western Ontario
Misfeasance in a Public Office: In Defence of the
Power/Duty Distinction
Geneviève Saumier  McGill University
Failure to Regulate and Products Liability
Commentators:
Neil Foster  University of Newcastle (Australia).
Geoff McLay  University of Victoria (New Zealand)
12:15 p.m.
Buffet Luncheon  The John and Dotsa Bitove Family Law Library
Friday Afternoon, June 9th
1:15 p.m.
Tort Law and the Family  Room 36
Chair:
The Honourable Justice Kathryn Feldman 
Court of Appeal for Ontario
Presentations:
Shauna Van Praagh  McGill University
«Sois Sage » - Responsibility for Childishness in the Law of
Civil Wrongs
Elizabeth Adjin-Tettey  University of Victoria
Claims of Involuntary Parenthood: Why the Resistance?
Commentator:
2:15 p.m.
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Moin Yahya  University of Alberta
Health Break  Closed Student Lounge
2:30 p.m.
Advanced Issues in Duty and Remoteness  Room 36
Chair:
The Honourable Chief Justice Clyde K. Wells 
Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador
(Court of Appeal)
Presentations:
Michael Jones  University of Liverpool
Liability for Psychiatric Damage: Walking a Path Between
Pragmatism and Principle
Peter Benson  University of Toronto
Does White v. Jones Represent Canadian Law?
Israel Gilead  Hebrew University
Harm Screening in the Common Law and Civil Law
Tradition
Commentator:
The Honourable Justice Allen Linden 
Federal Court of Appeal
4:00 p.m.
Health Break  Closed Student Lounge
4:15 p.m.
Economic Loss  Room 36
Chair:
The Honourable Justice W. Ian C. Binnie 
Supreme Court of Canada
Presentations:
Stephen Todd  University of Canterbury
Tort, Contract and Defective Property
John Swan  Aird & Berlis LLP
Officers, Employees, Servant’s Torts and the
Modern Corporation
Commentator:
Dean David F. Partlett  Washington and Lee University
5:15 p.m.
End of Sessions
6:30 p.m.
Cocktails  Oscar Taylor’s Restaurant
7:00 p.m.
Dinner  Oscar Taylor’s Restaurant
Page 3 of 6
Saturday, June 10th
8:15 a.m.
Continental Breakfast  Closed Student Lounge
9:00 a.m.
Causation  Room 36
Chair:
The Honourable Chief Justice Richard J. Scott 
Manitoba Court of Appeal
Presentations:
Richard Wright  Chicago-Kent College of Law
NESS and Omissions
Vaughan Black  Dalhousie University
Decision Causation
Lara Khoury  McGill University
Comparative Perspectives on Uncertain Causation
Commentators:
Ken Cooper-Stephenson  University of Saskatchewan
David Cheifetz  Bennett Best Burn LLP
10:30 a.m.
Health Break  Closed Student Lounge
10:45 a.m.
Strict and Vicarious Liability  Room 36
Chair:
The Honourable Justice Stephen Goudge 
Court of Appeal for Ontario
Presentations:
Robert Stevens  University of Oxford
A Theory of Non-delegable Duty
David Wingfield  WeirFoulds LLP
Perish Vicarious Liability?
Paula Giliker  University of Oxford
Comparative Perspectives on Vicarious Liability
Commentators:
John Murphy  University of Manchester
Russell Brown  University of Alberta
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12:15 p.m.
Buffet Luncheon  The John and Dotsa Bitove Family Law Library
1:30 p.m.
The Nature of Damage  Room 36
Chair:
The Honourable Justice Eleanore A. Cronk 
Court of Appeal for Ontario
Presentations:
Andrew Tettenborn  University of Exeter
What is a Loss?
Kumar Amirthalingam  National University of Singapore
The Changing Face Of The Gist Of Negligence
Commentator:
Stephen Perry  New York University
2:30 p.m.
Health Break  Closed Student Lounge
2:45 p.m.
Intentional Torts  Room 36
Chair:
The Honourable Justice Susan Lang 
Court of Appeal for Ontario
Presentations:
Ken Oliphant  Cardiff Law School
The Structure of the Intentional Torts
Denise Réaume  University of Toronto
The Cause of Action in Wilkinson v. Downton:
A Tort Whose Time Has Come
Commentator:
3:45 p.m.
Page 5 of 6
Robert Solomon  University of Western Ontario
Health Break  Closed Student Lounge
4:00 p.m.
Tort Law and Other Obligations  Room 36
Chair:
The Honourable Chief Justice Lance Finch 
British Columbia Court of Appeal
Presentations:
Lionel Smith  McGill University
Is Breach of Fiduciary Duty a Tort?
Dennis Klimchuk  University of Western Ontario
The Boundary Between Conversion And Unjust Enrichment
Commentator:
5:00 p.m.
Page 6 of 6
End of Sessions
Stephen Smith  McGill University