Joel V Payne
COUNSEL
Joel's favourite question is "but why?" When it comes to advocating for clients and trying to find the best possible result in complicated disputes, there are few practices, traditions, or laws that Joel sees as beyond challenge or improvement.
Joel is an experienced civil litigator and appeals lawyer with a modern philosophy. He clerked at the British Columbia Court of Appeal and has represented clients in every level of court in Canada, including the Supreme Court of Canada, in arbitration and mediation, and in informal settlement negotiations. From complex corporate/commercial litigation to property and contract disputes for small businesses—Joel has experience with finding the best way to solve a wide range of legal problems.
Joel likes to say that his practice area is "anything that can go wrong in operating a business, negotiating or performing a contract, or between shareholders or partners." He enjoys the challenge of tricky disputes, novel legal questions, and any kind of legal problem without an obvious answer.
As someone who grew up with a love of all manner of technology, Joel's practice is deliberately modern and tech-forward. He believes that lawyers should always be ready to adapt to any reliable modern technology that has the potential to save clients time, money, and to achieve better, more timely results.
Joel has a wonderful family and fulfilling personal life, but he is too concerned about the current state of online privacy to say anything more than that on the internet. As a hobby, Joel likes to constantly change his Linux distribution, learn different coding languages, and make mostly useless robots with single-board computers and microcontrollers.
Education
LLB (UNB, 2009, with Distinction)
Called to Bar of British Columbia (2011)
Significant Cases
Gill v Asian Resources Corporation, 2023 BCSC 2201: represented a shareholder and the company in a derivative action seeking the dismissal of claims against the company by another shareholder.
Garcha v 690174 B.C. Ltd., 2023 BCCA 376: represented a respondent in a 5 day appeal seeking to uphold orders made after a 102 day trial.
Antonov v Gill, 2022 BCCA 256: represented a shareholder in an appeal to obtain an order to break longstanding deadlock between two 50-50 shareholders using the liquidation remedy.
Lam v Ark Platforms Inc., 2021 BCSC 647: represented a technology company founder to defend an application to strike pleadings in an oppression claim and obtain an order to convert an oppression petition to a trial.
Hobbs v Warner, 2019 BCSC 2196, aff’d 2021 BCCA 290, leave to appeal to SCC refused 2022 CanLII 32897 (SCC): represented a defendant in one of the first applications to dismiss a defamation claim under BC’s new anti-SLAPP legislation (Protection of Public Participation Act), the plaintiff's appeal, and in the application seeking leave to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Gill v Lai, 2019 BCCA 103: represented the plaintiff in an appeal by an insurer alleging a failure to mitigate damages.
Ghuman v ICBC, 2019 BCSC 3: represented a plaintiff in a summary trial to decide whether the plaintiff took reasonable steps to determine the identity of a hit-and-run driver.
Chand v Southern Railway of British Columbia Limited, 2018 BCCA 41: represented the plaintiff in an appeal from negligence claims against a railway company.
Boxer Capital Corporation v JEL Investments Ltd., 2015 BCCA 24: represented the appellant in an appeal from a commercial arbitration award.
Gichuru v The Law Society of British Columbia, 2014 BCCA 396: represented the Law Society of British Columbia in an appeal by a lawyer who alleged discrimination under the Human Rights Code
On Call Internet Services Ltd. v Telus Communications Company, 2013 BCCA 366: represented the respondent telecommunications company in an appeal from a commercial arbitration award.
Nishi v Rascal Trucking Ltd., 2013 SCC 33: represented an appellant in the Supreme Court of Canada in an appeal to involving purchase-money resulting trust, constructive trusts, and unjust enrichment.
Peachland (District) v Peachland Self Storage Ltd., 2012 BCSC 1872, aff’d 2013 BCCA 273: represented a company in a petition and appeal challenging a municipal bylaw attempting to prohibit the operation of an aggregate mine approved by the provincial government.
