Nathan Shaheen

The plaintiff brought a motion seeking the recognition and enforcement of a foreign arbitral award issued by CIETAC against the defendant for over $233 million CAD.

The defendant argued the motion constituted an improper partial summary judgment because the plaintiff's action also included a second stage seeking declarations against the defendant's wife regarding Ontario real properties.

The court recognized the arbitral award, finding no grounds to refuse enforcement under the International Commercial Arbitration Act, 2017, and held that partial summary judgment was appropriate as the recognition issue was discrete and would not cause delay or risk inconsistent findings.

The plaintiff, an international bank headquartered in Nevis, sued the defendants in Ontario for defamation and breach of a confidentiality agreement.

The defendants, who had been noted in default, moved to set aside the default and dismiss the action on jurisdictional grounds.

The court set aside the noting in default, finding a reasonable explanation for the delay.

The court then dismissed the action, enforcing a forum selection clause in the parties' investment agreement that designated St. Kitts and Nevis as the exclusive jurisdiction.

Alternatively, the court found that Nevis was clearly the more appropriate forum under the doctrine of forum non conveniens.

The applicants, engaged in combating government corruption in Malaysia, sought a Norwich Pharmacal order to compel financial institutions to produce confidential information about a Canadian real estate group.

The applicants suspected the group was funded by proceeds of foreign corruption and contemplated a private criminal prosecution for money laundering and receipt of proceeds of crime.

The court dismissed the application, holding that the applicants lacked reasonable grounds to believe an indictable offence had been committed, and that it would be inappropriate to use the court's inherent civil jurisdiction to bypass the careful balance struck by Parliament in the Criminal Code for criminal investigations and private prosecutions.

Following a summary judgment motion in a class proceeding where the plaintiff succeeded on four of five common issues, the plaintiff sought an elevated partial indemnity costs award of $1,287,296.

The defendant argued for partial indemnity costs capped at $500,000 due to divided success.

The court rejected the elevated scale, applied the recommended Grid rates for hourly fees, and reduced the fees by one-quarter to reflect the divided success.

Costs were fixed at $775,000 all-inclusive, payable within 30 days.

Following a trial where the plaintiff university successfully proved that the defendants engaged in fraudulent activities and breached their fiduciary duties, the parties could not agree on costs.

The court awarded the plaintiff full indemnity costs against the primary defendants who orchestrated the fraud, and partial indemnity costs against the defendants involved only in fraudulent conveyances.

No costs were awarded for earlier motions due to divided success.

The plaintiff university brought an action against its former Assistant Vice-President and Director of Maintenance, alleging they orchestrated multiple fraudulent schemes, including false invoicing, kickbacks, and using university resources for personal residence improvements.

The court found the defendants liable for fraud and breach of fiduciary duty, ordering them to pay damages.

The court also voided the transfer of the primary defendant's properties to his family members as fraudulent conveyances and rescinded his severance agreement due to material non-disclosure of his fraudulent activities.

Investors who lost $17 million in a fraudulent certificate of deposit scheme brought a motion for leave to amend their statement of claim against a bank that had acted as a correspondent bank for the fraudster.

Earlier pleadings alleging a general duty on banks to monitor customers for fraud had been struck for failing to disclose a reasonable cause of action.

The proposed amendments added detailed allegations based on documents obtained by liquidators showing internal concerns within the bank about suspicious activities and regulatory issues surrounding the customer.

The court held that the amended pleading alleged a more specific duty arising from particular knowledge and circumstances rather than a broad duty to investigate customers generally.

Because the new allegations relied on information not reasonably available earlier and could potentially support a tenable claim, leave to amend was granted.

Former clients applied under the Solicitors Act to have legal accounts rendered by their former law firm assessed after paying more than $300,000 in fees and disbursements.

The respondent law firm argued the application was barred by the 12‑month limitation in s. 4 of the Solicitors Act, that the accounts had been paid, and that the application constituted an abuse of process.

The court held that commencing an application within 12 months preserves the right to assessment and that, in any event, the two‑year limitation under the Limitations Act may apply.

The court found “special circumstances” under s. 11, including the unexpectedly large fees, the pressure to promptly pay accounts, and the clients’ limited understanding of their right to challenge the bills.

However, because the clients had previously represented certain work as reasonable when seeking costs before another judge, those portions of the accounts were excluded from review.

The remaining portions of the accounts were referred for assessment.