The appellant sought foreclosure on a mortgage executed by the respondents.
The respondents had signed the mortgage without reading it, relying on a third party's misrepresentation that it was a minor amendment to an existing mortgage.
The Supreme Court of Canada held that the defence of non est factum is not available to a person who fails to exercise reasonable care in signing a document, as against an innocent party who relies on that document in good faith and for value.
The appeal was allowed and the previous Supreme Court decision in Prudential Trust Co. Ltd. v. Cugnet was overturned.
