COURT OF APPEAL FOR ONTARIO
RE: GUANGSHU LI, GUANGXIA LI and GUANGHWA LI (Appellants) –and– NINA LI, KIKI LI and KAREN LI (Respondents)
BEFORE: McMURTRY C.J.O., CATZMAN and ROSENBERG JJ.A.
COUNSEL: Guangshu Li and Guangxia Li, the appellants in person Daniel S. Melamed and A. Himel, for the respondents
HEARD: November 6, 2002
On appeal from the order of Justice James D. Carnwath of the Superior Court of Justice dated April 4, 2002.
E N D O R S E M E N T
1The order under appeal declares that the interest in the partnership agreement of Dollar Li and Nina Hsian Chen Li was owned as joint tenants, not as tenants in common. In our view, that conclusion follows inevitably from the language of the partnership agreement. In context, the reference to “spouse” in paragraph 13 can refer only to one of the four persons who signed the agreement, notwithstanding any suggested question about the legality of their matrimonial relationship.
2In the result, the appeal must be dismissed. We wish to emphasize that, while we are not unsympathetic to the sense of grievance expressed by the appellants with respect to the distribution of the interest of Dollar Li in the properties that were the subject of the partnership agreement, we are limited in this appeal to considering the correctness in law of the order under appeal and cannot deal with the broader legal claims that are described in the appellants’ factum. The dismissal of this appeal is expressly made without prejudice to the determination of any proceedings that may hereafter be asserted with respect to those claims.
3The respondents are entitled to their costs of the appeal, which we fix in the total sum of $5,000.
Signed:
“R.R. McMurtry C.J.O.” “M.A. Catzman J.A.” “M. Rosenberg J.A.”