J. Speigel

The plaintiff contractor sued the defendant homeowners for over $523,000 allegedly owing on a custom home construction project, claiming the project evolved without a fixed price.

The defendants argued they had an all-inclusive contract for $540,000, which they had fully paid, and counterclaimed for construction deficiencies.

The court found the plaintiff's principal deliberately lied, fabricated documents, and created false paper trails.

The court dismissed the plaintiff's claim entirely, ordered the construction lien discharged, and allowed the defendants' counterclaim for $65,112.86 to repair deficiencies.

Following an 11-week construction lien trial where the plaintiff recovered $254,464 after set-off, the plaintiff sought over $1.2 million in costs and disbursements.

The plaintiff had made a Rule 49 offer to settle for $217,000, which the defendants rejected.

The court assessed the reasonableness and proportionality of the costs, noting that while the costs far exceeded the recovery, applying a strict results-based proportionality would be unfair given the defendants' refusal to settle and the consequences of Rule 49.

The court reduced several expert disbursements but awarded the plaintiff total costs of $758,421.20.

A subcontractor brought a construction lien action and breach of contract claim against the general contractor arising from delays and termination on a warehouse construction project.

The court found the project experienced substantial delay caused by permitting issues, weather, design problems, owner‑driven restrictions on consultant access, and sequencing failures not attributable to the subcontractor.

The general contractor terminated the subcontractor after it temporarily demobilized while awaiting workable site conditions; the court held the termination was unlawful and did not constitute abandonment or repudiation.

The subcontractor was entitled to unpaid contract funds and compensation for delay‑related labour overruns and overhead costs, while the contractor received limited credits for specific deficiencies including conduit remediation and wire replacement.

The contractor’s counterclaim for completion costs largely failed because the termination prevented the subcontractor from finishing its work.