The appellant's late husband, a chartered accountant, committed a professional error in calculating the balance of a selling price owed to the respondent's late father.
This error led to the signing of a discharge that extinguished the debt and its sureties for a lesser amount.
The respondent sued the accountant and the purchasers.
The trial judge found the accountant professionally liable and held all debtors jointly and severally liable.
The Court of Appeal varied the judgment, declaring the debt indivisible.
The Supreme Court of Canada allowed the appeal in part, holding that the accountant's professional liability was established and the damage was actual, but the obligations of the accountant and the purchaser were not indivisible.
Instead, they were obligations in solidum, making the accountant liable for the amount of his error, with subrogation rights against the purchaser.
