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Mark O. Charron
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Education
- LL.B., Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario (1982)
- B.A., (Faculty of English), Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario (1979)
Areas of Practice
- Insurance litigation
- Commercial litigation
- Construction litigation
Practice Summary
Mark has practiced in the city of Ottawa exclusively in the area of civil litigation for over 20 years. He joined Williams, McEnery in 1994, where he has continued his insurance defence practice, acting for a range of property and casualty carriers throughout Eastern Ontario. Mark also acts for a number of carriers on behalf of specialized insureds, including local municipalities, the Ottawa Carleton Regional Police Services Board, and the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board. Several of these cases, in particular involving the Police Services Board, have been high profile and sensitive in nature.
As part of his civil litigation practice, Mark acts for a range of clients involved in construction disputes in the Ottawa area. He is regularly involved with the Ottawa Construction Association, providing seminars and advice on various topics.
Mark has extensive trial experience, both jury and non-jury, and has appeared regularly before Appellate Courts, including the Ontario Court of Appeal. Many of his trial decisions have been reported, the most notable being Herbison v. Lumberman's Mutual Casualty Co., a case involving the interpretation of "the use or operation of an automobile" for the purposes of determining insurance coverage under a motor vehicle liability policy.
Mark is an outgoing promoter of ongoing legal education, both within and outside of the legal community. Among his many pursuits in this area are conducting mock trials for a number of organizations, including both the Carleton County Law Association and the local chapter of the Ontario Association of Fire Investigators.
Mark acted as seminar leader for the Ontario Bar Admission Course for over five years on subjects of civil litigation and negotiation skills. He has also conducted seminars for the Advocacy Skills Course, which is carried as part of the University of Ottawa Law School's regular curriculum.
Mark also organizes and leads informal seminars on a regular basis for the firm's institutional clients as well as various local adjusting firms.
Advocacy Affiliations
Mark is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Canadian Bar Association (Civil and Construction Law Sections), the Carleton County Law Association, the Ottawa Valley Adjuster's Association, the Ottawa Construction Association, and in the past, the Ottawa-Carleton Board of Trade.
Selected Seminars
- Speaker, Ottawa Construction Association Law Seminar Series, 1988 to the present
- Speaker, Municipal Liability, Annual Ontario Municipalities Conference, Gananoque, November 1998
- Speaker, OIAA Annual Meeting - Bill 198 Threshold Issues, November 2003
- Speaker - the Herbison v. Lumberman's Mutual Casualty Co. case, CCLA Annual Civil Litigation Conference at Montebello, November 2005 and Canadian Institute Conference on Automobile Liability, Toronto, November 2005
Selected Cases
Automobile Insurance:
- Herbison v. Lumberman's Mutual Casualty Co. (2003) O.J. No. 3024 (S.C.J.)
- Herbison v. Lumberman's Mutual Casualty Co. (2005) O.J. No. 2262 (Ont. C.A.)
In October 2007, the Supreme Court of Canada reversed two Ontario Court of Appeal decisions on the issue of whether or not, under certain circumstances, an injury can be said to have arisen from the “use or operation of a motor vehicle. Mark Charron and Jaye Hooper of our firm successfully represented the appellant in one of those decisions, Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Company v. Herbison et al. Justice Ian Binnie wrote both Lumbermens v. Herbison and the companion decision of Citadel v. Vytlingam on behalf of a unanimous court.
Police Negligence:
- Burns v. Johnston [2003] O.J. No. 2456 (S.C.J.)
The tort of negligent investigation in police cases is novel, and Mr. Charron has acted on numerous occasions in successfully defending those types of claims on behalf of the Ottawa Police Services. He did so at this trial, involving an alleged negligent investigation arising from a coroner's report as to the cause of death.
Jury Trials
The decisions in jury trials are not reported, and civil jury trials are increasingly scarce in number. Over the years, however, Mark has regularly taken cases involving issues of negligence to trials before juries with positive results for his clients.
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