David Wayne Trenholm Levangie

The plaintiff supplier brought a motion for summary judgment seeking payment of outstanding invoices for wholesale jewelry sold to the corporate defendant and enforcement of alleged personal guarantees by the individual defendants.

The defendants argued that returned merchandise and diamonds supplied to the plaintiff eliminated the debt and that factual disputes required a trial.

Applying the summary judgment framework under Rule 20 and the guidance in Combined Air Mechanical Services Inc. v. Flesch, the court weighed the evidence and made credibility findings on the paper record.

The court rejected the principal defendant's evidence, found the return inventory had been properly credited at original sale prices, accepted a limited credit for diamonds, and held that the corporate defendant remained indebted.

The court also found an enforceable oral personal guarantee by one individual defendant but not by the others.

A creditor brought a motion to compel the bankrupt to satisfy an undertaking given during an examination under s. 163(1) of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.

The undertaking required production of complaints made by the bankrupt to the Law Society and the Human Rights Tribunal to clarify the nature of his relationship with another individual, an issue relevant to the bankrupt’s family unit status and estate.

The bankrupt sought to provide the documents only to the trustee and argued they contained confidential information.

The court held that where examining counsel conducts a s. 163 examination on behalf of the trustee and creditors, undertakings must be fulfilled by delivering documents to that examining counsel.

The bankrupt was ordered to obtain and deliver the documents, with directions that the trustee not file them in the public record without further court order due to potential confidentiality concerns.

A creditor sought an order under s. 163 of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act requiring a third party to attend for examination regarding the affairs of a bankrupt estate.

The responding party argued that s. 163(1) did not permit a creditor to conduct such an examination.

The court held that, where the trustee lacks funds and creditors authorize the examination, a creditor’s counsel may conduct the examination in the trustee’s name.

In the alternative, the evidentiary record satisfied the “sufficient cause” threshold under s. 163(2) because the proposed examination concerned potential estate assets and conflicting evidence about corporate ownership and loans involving the bankrupt.

The motion was granted and the third party was ordered to attend for examination.