Julia Wilkes

The applicant brought a motion under Rule 49.09 of the Rules of Civil Procedure seeking judgment enforcing a settlement agreement allegedly reached through email correspondence.

The respondents argued the purported settlement was conditional upon financial documentation substantiating specific “inflows and outflows” related to investments in a failed business venture and that the documentation provided did not support those representations.

The court held that the moving party bears a heavy burden on a Rule 49.09 motion and that the motion should be approached similarly to summary judgment, requiring the absence of genuine issues for trial.

Given conflicting affidavit evidence, disputed financial records, and credibility issues regarding losses, inventory values, and completeness of production, the court concluded that a full appreciation of the evidence required a trial.

The court therefore declined to enforce the alleged settlement.

The applicant, a unitholder in an income fund, sought an order requiring the fund's trustees to call a special meeting of unitholders to vote on a proposed transaction involving the restructuring of preference shares and secured notes.

The court found that the proposed transaction was objectively 'materially adverse' to the unitholders because it postponed payments on the secured notes.

Consequently, under the Declaration of Trust, the trustees lacked the authority to vote the fund's common shares in favour of the transaction without unitholder approval.

The court ordered the special meeting of the company to be adjourned pending a unitholder vote.

The Law Society of Upper Canada sought an injunction to prevent the respondent from practicing law or holding himself out as a lawyer.

The respondent operated McGuire Law Corporation and provided legal services in estates, divorce, and immigration matters, claiming he was acting as a clergyman assisting his congregants.

The court found the respondent was practicing law for profit and holding himself out as a lawyer, contrary to s. 26.1 of the Law Society Act.

The court granted the statutory injunction and awarded costs to the applicant.