Nathan Wainwright

The defendant, Wilco Contractors Superior Inc., brought a motion to transfer a breach of contract action commenced by Don Anderson Haulage Limited (DAHL) from Newmarket to Thunder Bay.

The court considered the nine factors under Rule 13.01.02(2)(b) of the Rules of Civil Procedure and found that the majority of the factors, including the location of the events, damages, and convenience of witnesses, favoured a transfer to Thunder Bay.

The motion was granted, and the action was ordered transferred.

Costs were awarded to the defendant on a partial indemnity basis, with written submissions on costs to follow.

The defendant, The Corporation of the Township of Ignace, sought an adjournment of the trial for a wrongful dismissal and breach of contract claim brought by the plaintiff, Lynda Marie Joan Colby, pending the outcome of a related appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada in another case involving the same defendant and similar issues.

The court dismissed the motion, finding that the main claim to be advanced at trial—breach of contract—would not be affected by the pending appeal, and that adjourning the trial would set a problematic precedent.

The respondents, Grid Link Corp. et al., moved to stay a prior order requiring them to purchase the applicant Foglia's shares and produce financial documents for valuation, pending their appeal of that order.

The court applied the three-part test for a stay, finding the appeal had low prospects of success, no irreparable harm was proven (as concerns about confidential information misuse were speculative and eventual disclosure was inevitable), and the balance of convenience favored allowing the valuation to proceed without further delay.

The motion for a stay was dismissed.

The court also clarified that the deemed undertaking rule did not apply to the compelled disclosure, imposing a specific protective order for the financial information.

The Court of Appeal quashed an appeal originating from an oppression remedy application, finding that the case management judge's substantive order for share purchase and valuation was appealable only to the Divisional Court under the Business Corporations Act, not the Court of Appeal.

The matter was transferred to the Divisional Court.

This motion for judgment sought to enforce an alleged settlement agreement in two related estate litigation actions concerning the estate of Beatrice Labrash.

The first action involved the Estate seeking to recover real property transferred to the deceased's son, Grant Labrash, by right of survivorship.

The second action was a challenge by Grant to the validity of the deceased's 2010 Will.

The court found that a settlement was reached between Grant and Derrick Lamarche, in his personal capacity and as Estate Trustee of Beatrice's Estate.

However, the settlement's enforceability was complicated by a crucial term involving the sale of a property (20 Park Crescent) that had been transferred to Hellan Lamarche personally and subsequently to her Estate Trustees (Derrick, Bradley Lamarche, and Annette Fishwick).

The court could not find that Bradley and Annette, who were not parties to the litigation and not clients of Derrick's counsel, had agreed to the settlement.

Consequently, the motion for judgment was denied without prejudice, allowing the moving party to seek further submissions on the court's authority to bind Hellan's Estate to the settlement.

The defendants moved to dismiss or permanently stay the plaintiff's action, alleging a breach of the common law deemed or implied undertaking rule.

They claimed the plaintiff used documents obtained from an Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) matter to prepare its statement of claim in the civil action.

The plaintiff argued there was no breach, or alternatively, sought relief from the consequences.

The court dismissed the defendants' motion, finding that Ontario's Rule 30.1.01(2) limits the deemed undertaking rule to evidence obtained through discovery processes under the Rules of Civil Procedure, and therefore does not apply to documents obtained from an unrelated proceeding in another forum like the OLRB.

The Respondents moved to convert an oppression remedy application into an action, asserting material facts were in dispute.

The Applicants sought a sale of shares.

The court, exercising its case management authority, adjourned the conversion motion.

Instead, recognizing the parties' shared ultimate objective of a share divestment, the court ordered the Respondents to purchase the Applicant's shares and established a comprehensive timetable for expert valuation, aiming to expedite the resolution of the long-standing corporate dispute.

The applicant First Nation sought an interpleader order to pay a construction holdback fund into court due to multiple adverse claims from subcontractors, a garnishee, and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

The court granted the interpleader, finding that the fund was neither the property of the general contractor (Razar) nor a debt payable to Razar, based on the contract terms and the Construction Act's trust provisions.

Consequently, the priority claims of the garnishee and CRA were dismissed as premature, as their claims depended on the fund being the general contractor's property.

The appellants, Robin and Jennifer Lacey, appealed a decision dismissing their application for declaratory relief and a Writ of Possession concerning a 99-year lease held by the respondent, Kakabeka Falls Flying Inc., over a portion of their property.

The appellants argued the lease violated the Planning Act.

The application judge found the lease commenced prior to May 2, 1968, thus exempting it from the Planning Act's subdivision prohibition, and that the appellants' claim was statute-barred under the Limitations Act, 2002.

The Court of Appeal upheld these findings, dismissing the appeal and awarding costs to the respondent.

The plaintiff brought a motion to strike the defendant's pleadings and for directions after the defendant failed to comply with a previous order to allow the recovery of personal property and pay costs.

The court issued detailed directions establishing a protocol for the plaintiff to retrieve its chattels, including the attendance of independent third parties.

The motion to strike was adjourned to allow the defendant to respond, with a warning that further non-compliance would be grounds to strike the pleadings.

The court provided additional reasons for its decision on two motions regarding a construction dispute.

On the discharge motion, the court discharged the plaintiff's construction lien, finding that the work performed was an extraction operation rather than an improvement to the land, meaning no right to a lien existed.

On the preservation motion, the court granted the plaintiff's request to preserve the extracted rock and wood, finding that the material was central to the dispute and the balance of convenience favoured preservation to ensure fair adjudication.

The parties, two closely held private companies owned by brothers, disputed an unwritten agreement allowing the plaintiff to extract aggregate and timber from the defendants' land.

The defendants brought a motion to discharge a construction lien registered by the plaintiff, while the plaintiff brought a motion to preserve harvested wood and blasted rock on the property.

The court granted the defendants' motion to discharge the lien, finding no lienable services were provided and the lien was not preserved in time.

The court also granted the plaintiff's motion for an interim preservation order, finding the test under Rule 45.01 was met.

Anne Winkworth, a co-estate trustee, brought a motion for directions concerning the sale of the last major asset of the estate, a property in Thunder Bay.

While the parties largely agreed on the sale, disputes remained regarding the holding of sale proceeds and costs.

The court ordered the property to be listed for sale, suspended any beneficiary purchase rights until after the listing, and directed that net sale proceeds, after specific expenses and Anne's fixed costs, be held in trust by Anne's counsel pending further agreement or court order.

Anne was awarded $2,000 in costs, to be a first charge on the sale proceeds.