Brian D. Dubé

The Ontario Trustee applied for an order approving the sale of estate farmland and a vesting order.

The respondent beneficiaries opposed the sale and brought a counter-application to remove the trustee.

The court found the trustee breached his fiduciary duties by failing to confer with the designated beneficiary before selling the property, and by pre-taking compensation and registering a mortgage against the property without authorization.

The court dismissed the trustee's application for a vesting order, finding he did not come to court with clean hands, and granted the counter-application to remove and replace him as trustee.

The applicant father brought a motion seeking an order that Ontario has jurisdiction over a parenting dispute regarding two children.

The respondent mother had commenced family court proceedings in Michigan.

The court found that Ontario and Michigan had concurrent jurisdiction because the children were habitually resident in both jurisdictions due to a shared parenting arrangement.

However, applying the balance of convenience test under s. 25 of the Children's Law Reform Act, the court declined to exercise its jurisdiction in favour of Michigan, noting the history of court filings there, a prior ruling by a Michigan judge, and the children's medical care being based in Michigan.

The plaintiffs brought a motion to provisionally strike the defendants' jury notices in a motor vehicle accident claim due to anticipated trial delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The court noted the significant backlog of civil jury trials in Windsor and the prejudice the plaintiffs would suffer from further delay, particularly regarding the statutory reduction of pre-trial income loss.

The court granted the motion, ordering the matter to proceed as a judge-alone trial unless civil jury trials resume in Windsor by the scheduled trial date.