2 total
Separation agreement restored; trial judge's unpleaded finding of trickery breached procedural fairness.
The appellant wife appealed an order setting aside a separation agreement under s. 56(4)(b) of the Family Law Act.
The hearing judge had set aside the agreement based on a theory he raised himself, finding the wife engaged in trickery by altering the agreement without the husband's knowledge.
The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, holding that the hearing judge's finding of trickery was procedurally unfair as it was never pleaded or put to the wife in cross-examination.
Absent this finding, there was no basis to conclude the sophisticated husband, who chose not to obtain independent legal advice, failed to understand the nature or consequences of the agreement.
Appeal dismissed; trial judge made no palpable and overriding error in finding painting authentic.
The appellant appealed a Small Claims Court decision dismissing her claim that a painting she purchased from the respondents, attributed to Norval Morrisseau, was a fake.
The trial judge found the painting was authentic based on expert handwriting analysis and fact witnesses, rejecting the appellant's evidence which included a statutory declaration by the artist.
The Divisional Court dismissed the appeal, finding no palpable and overriding error in the trial judge's factual findings and no reversible error of law regarding the admission of hearsay or opinion evidence under the Courts of Justice Act.
