What is the test for setting aside a jury verdict in a trial where counsel's address to the jury is offensive or irrelevant to any issue properly before the jury?

Ontario, Canada


The following excerpt is from Valdez v. Clarke, 2012 ONSC 1110 (CanLII):

This court in Abdallah v. Snopek, 2008 CanLII 6983 (ON S.C.D.C.) has already found that, where the counsel’s address to a jury is offensive or irrelevant to any issue properly before the jury, designed to inflame emotions rather than appeal to rationality, and where there is a real concern that the jury was thereby improperly swayed in its verdict, the verdict should be set aside and a new trial ordered, even where there is no timely objection raised by counsel. Analysis and Conclusions

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