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- CANADA 19 April 2021 Kore Meals
CANADA 19 April 2021 Kore Meals
Superior Court of Justice, Ontario, 19 April 2021
(Kore Meals, LLC v. Freshii Development, LLC and Freshii Inc.)
CANADA 19 April 2021 Kore Meals
“In the age of Zoom, is any forum more non conveniens than another? Has a venerable doctrine now gone the way of the VCR player or the action in assumpsit?” The Ontario Superior Court granted the argument of the defendants that the dispute between the parties should be referred to AAA arbitration in Chicago, reasoning that if hearings are held by videoconference, documents filed in digital form, and witnesses examined from remote locations, what is left of any challenge based on the unfairness or impracticality of any given forum? To ask the question, said the Court, is to answer it.
The court discusses the meaning and effect of the referral of the resolution of disputes to arbitration, including: who can ask for referral and when, whether a party has waived its right to request arbitration, the defense that there was no contract at all; whether there was a condition precedent to the commencement of arbitration (e.g. mediation), stay of proceedings v. compelling arbitration, and national procedural specificities such as remand and removal (US), effect of class action. etc.