Gerard C. Borean

The court approved a proposed settlement and certified the action for settlement purposes under the Class Proceedings Act, 1992.

The class consists of approximately 100 investors in a failed real estate limited partnership project.

The settlement restores the class members’ proportionate interest in the property, now with greater development density and less debt, and is considered generous.

The court found the settlement fair, reasonable, and in the best interests of the class, and approved class counsel’s fees.

The action will continue only as between the defendants for unresolved crossclaims.

The Court of Appeal for Ontario heard an appeal from a summary judgment order in a real estate dispute.

The appellants (purchasers) argued that the motion judge's reasons were inadequate for meaningful appellate review, specifically regarding the breach of the Agreement of Purchase and Sale (APS), the improvidence of the subsequent sale, and the enforceability of a 20% contractual pre-judgment interest rate.

The Court of Appeal agreed that the motion judge's reasons were insufficient, as they merely summarized positions and stated conclusions without providing insight into the reasoning or factual findings.

The respondent husband brought a motion to vary interim child support and parenting orders due to alleged material changes in circumstances.

The court dismissed the motion to vary child support, finding no actual change in circumstances that would warrant revisiting the interim order before trial.

However, the court granted the motion to increase the father's parenting time and establish joint parental decision-making, emphasizing the best interests of the children and the material change in circumstances due to the withdrawal of criminal charges against the father and the passage of time.

The defendant owner brought a motion for directions seeking to hold the proceeds of a statutory adjudication award in trust, rather than paying the co-defendant contractor, due to a perfected construction lien registered by the plaintiff subcontractor.

The owner argued that paying the award would expose him to paying twice.

The Superior Court dismissed the motion, finding it lacked jurisdiction to vary or stay the adjudicator's order under the Construction Act outside of a judicial review application.

The court emphasized the Act's prompt payment scheme, noting that the owner must pay the award and the contractor would hold the funds in trust for the subcontractor.

The moving party, an estate trustee, brought a motion to add her sister as a respondent to two consolidated applications: an application to pass accounts and an application for the removal of the estate trustee.

The sister and her daughter opposed the joinder.

The court found that the sister was an interested party who had demanded an accounting and was a possible beneficiary of the estate.

Applying Rules 5.03 and 9.01 of the Rules of Civil Procedure, the court concluded that the sister was a necessary party whose rights could be affected by the outcome.

The motion was granted, and the sister was ordered to be added as a party to both applications.

The plaintiff, Frank Miele, a failed mayoral candidate, brought a lawsuit alleging corruption and fraud against the entire municipal council and mayor of Vaughan, seeking $210 million in damages and disqualification from office.

Miele later admitted his allegations were baseless and apologized.

The defendants sought substantial indemnity costs, totaling over $1.2 million.

The court rejected Miele's arguments for reduced costs, finding his testimony inconsistent and his claims of lack of understanding incredible given his extensive municipal finance background.

The court ruled that bringing a meritless lawsuit is an abuse of process, not public interest litigation, and ordered Miele to pay substantial indemnity costs to the defendants, including $813,101.99 to the City of Vaughan.

Following a successful application for the rescission of a contract to purchase seat licenses due to misrepresentation, the applicant sought costs on the higher end of the partial indemnity scale.

The respondent argued for a lower amount based on its own costs outline and the simplicity of the issues.

The court found the respondent's position on the merits was entirely without merit and awarded costs on the higher end of the partial indemnity scale, but reduced the applicant's claimed hours by 30% for being excessive.

Costs were fixed at $21,948.35.

The appellant was charged with violations of the Building Code Act for failing to comply with six orders to comply issued in 2013.

At trial, the appellant sought disclosure of prior charges and prosecutions, including orders to comply issued in 1995 and 1996 that had resulted in withdrawn charges.

The justice of the peace granted the disclosure order.

The respondent municipality applied for certiorari to quash the disclosure order.

The Superior Court granted certiorari, finding the earlier orders were distinct due to different compliance deadlines.

The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, finding the application judge erred by failing to apply the substantial wrong or miscarriage of justice test and by prematurely determining the relevance issue mid-trial.

The Regional Municipality of York sought an order of mandamus with certiorari in aid to quash a disclosure order made by a Justice of the Peace and to compel the continuation of a trial.

The disclosure order required the prosecution to provide information on previous charges against the respondent from 1995 and 1996, which the applicant argued constituted a collateral attack on unappealed 2013 orders to comply under the Building Code Act.

The court found that the disclosure order was indeed a collateral attack on the 2013 orders, which the respondent had failed to appeal, and therefore granted the applicant's request.