Jason Nee Liang Huang-Kung

The applicant husband and respondent wife built a real estate corporate empire during their marriage.

Following their separation, the wife claimed her mother beneficially owned the subject corporations and relied on a 2007 marriage contract to exclude the assets from net family property.

The court found the husband was the beneficial owner of four of the corporations and a 50% owner of the fifth, determining the mother was merely a nominee.

The court also set aside the marriage contract, finding the parties had abandoned it by mutual agreement in 2008.

The wife's post-separation actions to seize control of the corporations were found to be oppressive under the Business Corporations Act.

The purchaser of a pre-construction condominium unit sought to rescind the agreement of purchase and sale after the developer added three stories to the building.

The parties proceeded to arbitration, where the arbitrator found in favour of the developer and determined his jurisdiction arose from the parties' consent under the Arbitration Act, 1991, not the Ontario New Homes Warranties Plan Act (ONHWPA).

The purchaser brought proceedings to the Divisional Court for judicial review and appeal.

The developer moved to quash the proceedings for lack of jurisdiction.

The Divisional Court granted the motion to quash, finding that because the arbitrator determined his jurisdiction was under the Arbitration Act, 1991, that Act governed the appeal routes.

Since the purchaser had waived his appeal rights in the arbitration agreement, the Divisional Court had no jurisdiction.

The court considered cross-motions for summary judgment regarding a failed assignment of a pre-construction condominium agreement.

The plaintiff sought to retain a $70,000 deposit after the defendants did not complete the assignment, while the defendants sought its return.

The court found that the plaintiff failed to seek the vendor’s consent to the assignment “forthwith” as required, and that the vendor’s consent documents imposed unreasonable new terms not contemplated by the assignment agreement.

The court held that the assignment agreement was null and void and ordered the return of the deposit to the defendants.

The corporate defendant, Medical Respiratory Care Inc. (MRC), brought a Rule 21.01(1)(b) motion to strike the action against it, arguing the Statement of Claim disclosed no reasonable cause of action due to "conjunctive-disjunctive" pleading regarding the contract parties (Mr. Tiltack and/or MRC).

The plaintiff argued there was a live issue as to who the contracting party was.

The court dismissed the motion, finding the pleadings were not flawed given the ambiguity of the contract parties and that the motion was tactical.

The court issued a costs endorsement following the dismissal of an action under the anti-SLAPP regime (s. 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act).

The defendants, who successfully moved for dismissal, sought full indemnity costs totaling over $148,000.

The plaintiff argued against full indemnity, citing various factors including the nature of the litigation, power imbalances, and procedural delays.

The court, exercising its discretion, found that full indemnity was not appropriate and awarded partial indemnity costs of $60,000 to the individual defendants and $30,000 to Cybermedia, considering the specific circumstances and issues raised by the plaintiff.

The defendants brought an anti-SLAPP motion under s. 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act to dismiss the plaintiff's defamation action.

The plaintiff, former Executive Chairman of a non-profit organization, sued the defendants over WeChat messages and a published declaration alleging election manipulation, financial opaqueness, and by-law violations.

The court granted the motion and dismissed the action, finding that the expressions related to a matter of public interest, the defendants had valid defences including justification and fair comment, and the public interest in protecting the expression outweighed the minimal harm suffered by the plaintiff.