Kira Domratchev

The applicant brought an oppression application seeking an order that the respondent corporation pay $999,007.50 to redeem her preference shares.

The respondents argued the payment would render the corporation insolvent under s. 32(2) of the Business Corporations Act and sought a stay pending a related appeal.

The court found the appeal had already been dismissed and did not affect the preference shares.

The court also rejected the insolvency argument, finding the corporation had sufficient assets and equity.

The court ordered the corporation to pay the redemption amount, finding it unnecessary to determine if the failure to pay constituted oppression.

This appeal arose from a dispute between siblings over inherited family companies.

The trial judge found that the parties had an agreement regarding company ownership, that the appellant breached his fiduciary duty to the respondent, and was unjustly enriched.

The appellants challenged these findings, arguing there was no binding agreement, no fiduciary relationship, and that the promissory estoppel claim was invalid and statute-barred.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, upholding the trial judge's findings on the existence of an ownership agreement, unjust enrichment, and breach of fiduciary duty, finding no palpable and overriding error.

The Court noted that the dismissal of the promissory estoppel claim did not affect the outcome.

The appellants, beneficiaries of an estate, appealed a Superior Court order that declared they had no interest in a property, ordered them to vacate, and required them to pay occupation rent.

Their appeal primarily argued that the motion judge erred by failing to grant them an adjournment and by providing insufficient reasons for the denial.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding no basis to interfere with the motion judge's discretionary decision.

The court noted that it was not the appellants' first adjournment request, they had received legal advice, and the ongoing delay prejudiced other beneficiaries of the estate.

Costs were awarded against one appellant.

Following a lengthy trial regarding the ownership of a family business, the successful plaintiff sought costs of approximately $1.57 million.

The plaintiff had served an offer to settle seven days before trial, which the defendant rejected.

The court exercised its discretion under Rule 57.01 to award substantial indemnity costs from the date of the offer, finding the offer was reasonable and the defendant's conduct unnecessarily increased costs.

After deducting amounts related to separate actions, the court fixed costs payable to the plaintiff at $1,306,757.90.

The plaintiff and defendant, siblings, disputed the ownership of three real estate holding corporations left to them by their father.

The plaintiff claimed they reached an agreement in 2014 to divide ownership, with the plaintiff taking one corporation and the defendant taking the other two, and that she signed a renunciation of her interest in a family trust based on this agreement.

The defendant argued the agreement was only for a temporary division of management.

The court found that the parties were in a fiduciary relationship, intended to divide ownership, and conducted themselves as sole owners for seven years.

The court granted a declaration that the plaintiff is the beneficial owner of the defendant's shares in the chosen corporation based on contract and proprietary estoppel.