David Hager Partner Toronto Tel : 416.307.4074 Fax : 416.865.7048 Email : david.hager@mcmillan.ca VCard :

Professional Activities

David Hager is a partner in the Employment & Labour Law Group and the Advocacy and Litigation Group in the Toronto office. David has been a partner with the firm since 1981, and has over 25 years of trial and appellate expertise. David litigates a broad range of general commercial large-scale cases, and has appeared as counsel at all levels of courts in Ontario, including the Supreme Court of Canada, the Ontario Court of Appeal, the Federal Court and the Tax Court.

His ethics combined with outstanding representations in Employment Law, as well as Commercial Litigation, make him a respected, successful and much sought-after legal professional.

David is the preferred counsel for large document cases. He provides leadership at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and Ontario Court of Appeal. Further, he handles employer concerns before Employment Standards Referees and Human Rights Tribunals and in the Tax Court of Canada.  His talents are applied in situations of corporate restructuring, wrongful dismissal, human rights, sexual harassment, and Employment Standards Act rights and complaints. He also acts for executives in the negotiation of contracts and with respect to the termination of their employment.

David leads corporations and individuals alike through complex commercial litigation spanning bankruptcy and insolvency, oppression remedies, shareholder and partnership disputes, fraud, and stockbroker and professional liability. Whether in breach of fiduciary duty or breach of contract situations, David seamlessly handles cases. He captures the relevancy among copious details and extraneous information.

With his approachable manner, he is often retained as counsel by other lawyers to act for their clients. David is the proud recipient of the Martindale-Hubbell rating of BV®.  His peers are all reassured by his knowledge and commitment to excellence. He consistently strategizes best approaches for the many complex and high-profile cases which are directed his way.

Special Recognition

• Received a "BV" Peer Review Rating from Martindale-Hubbell

Memberships

• Canadian Bar Association

David Hager's representation of corporations and individuals in actions involving breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and fraud has been well documented. Among David's many successful cases, both at trial and at the Court of Appeal are:

• Multimillion dollar claim against a number of individuals and corporations for breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract arising as a result of a failed real estate joint venture.
• Claims on behalf of corporate employers against senior executives arising out of fraud.
• Defense of employers in a multi million dollar wrongful dismissal suit on the basis of 'after acquired cause' and instances of interpretation of an employment contract. Resulted in significant ramifications for the use of employment contracts by employers.
• Defences of corporations and employees faced with injunctions arising out of alleged breaches of fiduciary duty or misuse of confidential information. 
• Discrimination cases on behalf of employers in complaints filed under both the Human Rights Code and the Employment Standards Act.
• Challenge of the Federal Government's assertion in the Tax Court of Canada that over 300 independent contractors should be classified as employees.

David has also:

• Appeared on behalf of receivers and creditors in Companies Creditor Arrangement Act proceedings at the Superior Court of Justice (Commercial List) and at the Court of Appeal.
• Acted as counsel in a high profile case in the Federal Court regarding the battles of two Mutual Funds.
• Been counsel in multiple cases reported in the Ontario Reports, the Dominion Law Reports, Canadian Cases on Employment Law, the Ontario Appeal Cases and the Supreme Court Reports.

• David Hager has presented numerous papers on such topics as the Ontario Human Rights Code, Employment Standards Act, discrimination in the workplace, non-competition covenants, disability in the workplace, the use of reference letters, termination of employment, issue estoppels, independent contractors, employee dishonesty, bad faith conduct and disability insurance benefits.
• David is often quoted in the Canadian news media. He has been featured in The Financial Post, The Lawyers Weekly, Law Times and Canadian Living.
• David was featured in The Globe and Mail in an article titled Two-timing the Boss in the January 21, 2009 edition. In the article David discusses daylighting, or doing other paid work during the work day on a full-time employer's time.