Court of Appeal for Ontario

Date: 2019-06-28 Docket: C65921

Judges: Huscroft, Trotter and Zarnett JJ.A.

Between

David Jacobs Plaintiff/Appellant

and

Leboeuf Properties Inc. Defendant/Respondent

Counsel

For the Appellant: Robert J. Kennaley and Joshua W. Winter

For the Respondent: Andrew Rance

Hearing

Heard: June 28, 2019

On appeal from: The order of Justice Bernadette Dietrich of the Superior Court of Justice, dated August 30, 2018.

Appeal Book Endorsement

[1] In our view, this was not a proper case for the application of rule 21(a). The contractual provision at issue, a covenant to insure, could not be properly interpreted in isolation from the contract as a whole, or in a factual vacuum. Indeed, the contract itself was not provided to the motion judge. In these circumstances, it is not possible to determine the objective intentions of the parties in accordance with the principles of contract interpretation.

[2] Accordingly, the appeal is allowed and the order of the motion judge is set aside. The appellant is entitled to costs of $2,500 on the appeal, and $10,000 on the motion, both figures inclusive of taxes and disbursements.