The defendant brought a motion seeking to apply the doctrine of res judicata to an arbitral award rendered under Sharia Law in Qom, Iran, which had addressed a dispute over the distribution of proceeds from a jointly owned property in Lebanon.
The plaintiffs, who initiated the Ontario proceedings, argued the arbitration was merely advisory.
The court found that the arbitration was a binding judicial decision by a competent jurisdiction, meeting the preconditions for issue estoppel.
It dismissed the plaintiffs' statement of claim, concluding that the dispute had been finally resolved by the arbitrator and that the International Commercial Arbitration Act's time limits for challenging an award had passed, with no "real unfairness" warranting setting it aside.
