Bennett Gastle
Automatically compiled listing. Details may contain errors.2 lawyers · Established 2005 · Durham Region
One of 46 law firms listed in Whitby.
About Bennett Gastle
Established in 2005, Bennett Gastle is a litigation boutique of lawyers, paralegals and law clerks. Insurance defence is a large part of what it does, from benefit claims under group health, disability, life and travel coverage to occupier's liability and negligence, and it also handles breach of contract and creditor-debtor actions.
Elizabeth Bennett-Martin and Chuck Gastle founded the firm, and today it's led by co-presidents Heather Gastle and Crystal Burns. Heather Gastle, called to the Ontario Bar in 2016, practises civil litigation with an insurance defence focus and oversees the lawyers' work. Crystal Burns, a licensed paralegal and notary public, oversees the paralegal side. Stephen Simpson adds fifteen years of experience as a lawyer, and previously led the Canadian litigation group of a major insurance and asset management company.
The firm's court experience runs from Small Claims and the Superior Court up through the Divisional Court and the Court of Appeal, and it has experience with leave applications to the Supreme Court of Canada. Two members of the team have been there since the beginning: Rizza Andrade, now a senior litigation law clerk, joined in 2005, and Crystal Burns has been with the firm since it opened that same year.
Bennett Gastle's office is Suite 105 at 420 Green Street in Whitby, and the main line is (416) 361-3319. The firm commits to answering every question and concern its clients raise promptly.
History
Elizabeth Bennett-Martin and Chuck Gastle opened Bennett Gastle in 2005. Both had begun their careers inside a larger downtown firm, and they set out to build a practice offering commercial and civil litigation at a sensible cost, shaped around what each client needed. The firm started out centred on its lawyers and grew over the years into a mixed practice of lawyers and paralegals. By 2014 it had five lawyers, with Chuck Gastle and Elizabeth Bennett-Martin as its managing partners.
Ownership changed hands in 2023, when Heather Gastle and Crystal Burns became co-owners and the two founders moved into advisory roles. Heather Gastle's history with the firm goes back to 2006, when Heather began as a summer research intern, and Heather later came back to article and begin full-time practice there.
Practice areas
Insurance defence
The firm's insurance defence work spans several kinds of benefit claims, disability and life among them, as well as occupier's liability, negligence and tort matters. Heather Gastle defends insurers on disability, extended health and life claims as well as occupier's liability and travel matters, and paralegal Yinyang Henning, who worked at a plaintiff firm before, supports the team on these files.
Commercial litigation
Bennett Gastle's commercial litigation covers breach of contract, creditor-debtor litigation and other commercial disputes. Stephen Simpson's experience includes contract disputes, insurance coverage matters, real estate litigation and professional negligence claims.
Employment law
Employment law is one of Bennett Gastle's practice areas, and employment issues are part of Stephen Simpson's litigation experience.
Good to know
Accessible parking
By appointmentHow Bennett Gastle works
Bennett Gastle works to develop and keep up a documented litigation strategy and to carry it out on a timely basis, and clients stay in the loop on that strategy and take part in shaping it as the file moves along. Each lawyer and paralegal carries a file load of their own. The firm's guiding principles are experience, efficiency and effectiveness.
Bennett Gastle commits to keeping files well organized and to communication that's timely and transparent, while keeping its client relationships personal.
Reported cases
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Kumarasamy v. Western Life Assurance Company, 2021 ONCA 849
Elizabeth Bennett-Martin and Heather M. Gastle acted for Western Life Assurance Company, which appealed the dismissal of its summary judgment motion arguing a claim for LTD benefits was statute-barred. The court allowed the appeal, granted the motion and dismissed the action, and leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada was later refused.
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31 Kingsbury Inc. v. Delta Elevator Company Limited, 2021 ONCA 656
Charles M. Gastle and Heather M. Gastle acted for the respondent, Delta Elevator, after the appellant abandoned its appeal of a judgment enforcing a settlement agreement. The court held it had jurisdiction to award costs of an abandoned appeal and gave the respondent its costs on a partial indemnity scale.
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Pepper v. Sanmina-Sci Systems (Canada) Inc., 2017 ONCA 730
Elizabeth Bennett-Martin and Stephen Simpson acted for the appellant, The Standard Life Assurance Company of Canada, in a long-term disability claim. The court found the limitation period began on November 1, 2007, allowed the appeal and ordered the action dismissed with costs.
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Morriseau v. Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, 2017 ONCA 567
Stephen Simpson and Elizabeth Bennett-Martin acted for the respondent Sun Life, which administered long-term disability benefits as agent for a self-insured school board. The court dismissed the appeal, finding the real dispute lay between the employee and the board and could be pursued through arbitration.
Decisions where the firm's lawyers appeared as counsel, from public court records. Past cases don't predict future results.
Milestones & recognition
- In March 2004 the Government of France made co-founder Chuck Gastle a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Palmes académiques.
- Chuck Gastle taught at Osgoode Hall Law School as an adjunct professor from 2002 to 2014, and the school honoured that teaching with an adjunct faculty teaching award in 2006.
- In 2006 Chuck Gastle received the Procurement Business Advocate of the Year Award from the Canadian Aboriginal and Minority Supplier Council.
- The Osgoode Hall Law School Alumni Association presented Chuck Gastle with its Gold Key Award in 2009, recognizing service to the legal profession and society.
- Co-founder Elizabeth Bennett-Martin served eight years as Vice Chair of the Ontario License Appeal Tribunal and was inducted into the Canadian Academy of Distinguished Neutrals.
In the community
- Elizabeth Bennett-Martin co-founded CLEW (Cambodian Legal Education for Women), a registered Canadian charity whose scholarships, housing and support let young women from rural Cambodia earn a law degree at the Royal University of Law and Economics.
- As of 2014, Bennett Gastle had brought more than 45 women to study law at RULE through CLEW. Donations from Bennett Gastle's clients and friends, plus an annual golf tournament and dinner-dance, paid for most of each student's costs, the firm made up any shortfall and covered all administrative, supervisory and recruitment expenses, and the two founders each travelled to Cambodia at least once a year to meet prospective students in their home villages.
- Senior law clerk Rizza Andrade and paralegal Michelle Speelman Viney are both involved with CLEW, which carries 25 young women a year through four years of university study.
- Stephen Simpson mentors aspiring law students and junior lawyers.
- Crystal Burns has volunteered with the Whitby Minor Baseball Association since 2021.
Affiliations & connections
- CLEW (Cambodian Legal Education for Women): Charity co-founded by Bennett Gastle co-founder Elizabeth Bennett-Martin.
- Canadian Association of Black Lawyers: Stephen Simpson of Bennett Gastle is a member of the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers.
The neighbourhood
Bennett Gastle works out of Suite 105 at 420 Green Street in Whitby, the town that serves as Durham Region's seat of government. Whitby has its own GO station, and GO Transit runs frequent Lakeshore East line service through the town.
Frequently asked questions
- Does Bennett Gastle have a licensed paralegal with Small Claims Court experience?
- Bennett Gastle co-president Crystal Burns is a licensed paralegal who has represented clients in Small Claims Court.
- Has Bennett Gastle handled matters at the LAT, the HRTO or the Ontario Land Tribunal?
- Bennett Gastle has experience at all three: the LAT, the HRTO and the Ontario Land Tribunal.
- Does Bennett Gastle take creditor-debtor files from the first claim through to enforcement?
- Bennett Gastle paralegal Yinyang Henning runs a debtor-creditor caseload from the start of a claim to enforcement proceedings. Crystal Burns manages several large creditor caseloads and works out settlements of collection and contract disputes within them, and Michelle Speelman Viney handles a large creditor litigation portfolio.
- Does Bennett Gastle co-founder Elizabeth Bennett-Martin still mediate through Bennett Mediations?
- Bennett Gastle co-founder Elizabeth Bennett-Martin now advises the firm and concentrates on a mediation practice with Bennett Mediations, which Elizabeth Bennett-Martin founded in 2015.
Where to find them
420 Green St., Suite 105, Whitby, ON L1N 8R1 · 416-361-3319
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