Chris Junior

The defendant buyer in an aborted real estate transaction sought to have her case managed and tried together with six other similar actions involving the same developer.

The defendant raised environmental issues as a defence to the plaintiff's claim for damages.

The court dismissed the request for case management and a common trial, finding that a single 30-day trial would cause delay and that proceeding with a summary trial in the present action would be more efficient and could provide early rulings to streamline the other cases.

The Monitor of Bondfield Construction Company Limited and the Trustee in Bankruptcy of Forma-Con Construction brought applications under s. 96 of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act to recover tens of millions of dollars transferred out of the debtor companies through a false invoicing scheme and an alleged fund cycling scheme.

The court found that the payments made under the false invoicing scheme were transfers at undervalue made with the intent to defraud, defeat, or delay creditors, and held the participating respondents jointly and severally liable.

The court declined to apply the strict corporate attribution doctrine from Canadian Dredge, instead imputing the directing mind's fraudulent intent to the corporate debtors to fulfill the remedial purpose of s. 96.

The Monitor's claim regarding the fund cycling scheme was dismissed for lack of evidence that the transfers lacked consideration.