Andrew J. Pearson

The appellant challenged a provincial appellate ruling that reversed leave to appeal an arbitral award under s. 31 of the Arbitration Act.

The dispute concerned whether an option to renew was validly exercised by letter under a commercial agreement.

The appellate court held no pure question of law arose from the arbitrator’s interpretation, so the statutory leave threshold was not met.

The Court dismissed the appeal substantially for the reasons of the Court of Appeal of British Columbia.

The appellant, an investor who lost money when a registered mortgage broker used funds for unauthorized purposes, brought a class action against the Registrar of Mortgage Brokers for negligence.

The appellant alleged the Registrar should have acted sooner to suspend the broker's licence.

The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the appeal, holding that the Registrar did not owe a private law duty of care to the investors.

Applying the Anns test, the Court found insufficient proximity between the Registrar and the investors, as the governing statute imposed a duty to the public as a whole, not to individual investors.

Furthermore, policy considerations, including the spectre of indeterminate liability and the quasi-judicial nature of the Registrar's decisions, negated any prima facie duty of care.