Corina Anghel Bachmann

The appellants and respondents owned cottage properties on Lake Erie.

The trial judge found the appellants had acquired prescriptive easements for parking and a pier on the respondents' land, but applied equitable proprietary estoppel to impose annual licence fees.

The Court of Appeal held the trial judge erred in applying the equitable doctrine without a finding of unconscionability, setting aside the licence fees.

The Court dismissed the respondents' cross-appeal, upholding the findings that parking was reasonably necessary for the enjoyment of the dominant tenements, and that proprietary estoppel was established for a well and concrete blocks.

The appellant father appealed an order requiring him to pay child support in accordance with the Ontario Child Support Guidelines.

A 1985 court order had previously required him to pay a $4,000 lump sum for child support and denied him access.

The mother later married and her new husband assumed financial responsibility for the child.

Following her separation from the new husband, the mother applied for child support from the appellant.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, holding that the enactment of the Guidelines created an automatic right to vary pre-existing child support orders without needing to prove a material change in circumstances.

The Court also found that while the prior arrangements could constitute 'special provisions' under s. 37(2.3) of the Family Law Act, it would not be inequitable to apply the Guidelines in this case.