Matthew Urback

The defendants, Ludovico Minicucci and 2181860 Ontario Limited, brought a motion for summary judgment to dismiss an action by Windrock Associates Ltd. for a success fee of $97,350.

Windrock claimed the fee was owed under an agreement for advisory services related to the purchase of a one-half interest in real property, or alternatively, under quantum meruit and unjust enrichment.

The defendants argued that the agreement contravened the Real Estate and Business Brokers Act, 2002 (REBBA) because Windrock was not registered under the Act, and therefore, the claim for remuneration was barred.

The court found that Windrock's services were "in connection with a trade in real estate" and that the success fee, calculated as a percentage of the sale price and conditional on the transaction closing, gave Windrock a direct pecuniary interest in the sale.

Consequently, the court held that Windrock's claims under the agreement, quantum meruit, and unjust enrichment were all barred by section 9 of REBBA.

The motion for summary judgment was granted, and the action was dismissed.

The third-party Wasylko Architect Inc. brought a motion to transfer an action from Milton to London, which the plaintiff opposed.

The action concerned property damages in London due to construction work.

The court applied Rule 13.1.02(2)(b) holistically, considering factors such as where events occurred, damages were sustained, the subject matter's location, local community interest, convenience of parties and witnesses, and court facility availability.

The court found London to be a significantly better venue due to the strong factual connection to London and Milton's inability to accommodate a lengthy trial, which would cause significant delays.

The motion was granted, transferring the main action and related third-party actions to London.

The estate trustee sought partition and sale of residential property, alleging that the deceased's 7/13 interest remained an estate asset because a 2002 transfer deed to the respondent was invalid.

After a mini-trial on ownership, the court found the moving party failed to prove incapacity despite evidence of early-stage Alzheimer's disease, and accepted that the deceased understood the transfer and intended to gift her interest.

The court also held that non-registration of the transfer deed did not invalidate the gift as against the donor or her estate once the executed deed had been delivered to counsel for registration.

The application for partition was dismissed because the respondent owned the property outright at the deceased's death.

The defendant sought leave to amend its statement of defence to assert adverse possession and add a counterclaim claiming ownership of disputed land.

The plaintiff argued the amendment constituted withdrawal of an admission because the original defence relied on acquiescence, which would defeat an adverse possession claim.

The court held that the original pleading did not clearly amount to an admission but assumed it might and applied the test for withdrawal of admissions.

The proposed amendment raised a triable issue, the defendant provided a reasonable explanation based on newly discovered aerial photographs supporting historical possession, and no non-compensable prejudice was established.

Leave to amend the pleading and assert the counterclaim was granted.

The appellant sought to stay or dismiss an Ontario contract action on the basis of a prior default declaratory judgment obtained in Minnesota stating that nothing was owed under the parties' agreements.

The Court of Appeal held that even assuming the technical requirements of res judicata or issue estoppel were met, the motion judge properly exercised discretion not to apply those doctrines where doing so would be unjust.

The court emphasized the absence of any merits determination in the foreign proceeding, the tactical and defensive nature of the foreign declaratory action, and the fact that the compensation claim was integrally tied to Ontario under contracts governed and enforced by Ontario law.

Comity did not require a stay in the circumstances.