Court of Appeal for Ontario

Date: 2025-06-24
Docket: COA-23-CV-0675

Before: Janet Simmons, Paul Rouleau, S.E. Pepall

Between

Dramel Limited
Plaintiff (Respondent)

and

Gurnam Multani and Surjit Multani
Defendants (Appellants)

Appearances:
Dennis Van Sickle, for the appellants
Madison Robins and Mahgol Taghivand, for the respondent

Heard and released orally: June 20, 2025

On appeal from the orders of Justice William S. Chalmers of the Superior Court of Justice, dated May 16, 2023, and January 29, 2024.

Reasons for Decision

[1] The appellants signed successive forbearance agreements in 2016 and 2018 in which they acknowledged the amounts owing under several loans made to them by the respondent over a lengthy period of time. The forbearance agreements include schedules which detail, among other things, fees that have been charged over the years for matters such as renewals and processing fees for assignments.

[2] The motion judge concluded it was unnecessary in the circumstances for him to conduct a detailed analysis of the accounting report that the respondent filed because of the forbearance agreements confirming the amounts outstanding. On the record before him, he found that a Loan Agreement between the parties permitted the types of charges shown in the schedules to the forbearance agreements and that, in some instances, the respondent had charged lower fees than were permitted.

[3] While the appellants challenged the propriety of the fees charged and the accuracy of the calculations performed by the respondent’s accountant, they have not identified any charges that would appear to contravene the Interest Act, RSC 1985, c I-15. Further, the motions judge did not accept the appellants’ expert as being either independent or qualified.

[4] In the circumstances, we see no basis on which to interfere with the motion judge’s decision.

[5] The appeal is therefore dismissed.

[6] Costs of the appeal are to the respondent on a substantial indemnity scale fixed in the amount of $30,000 inclusive of HST.

Janet Simmons J.A.
Paul Rouleau J.A.
S.E. Pepall J.A.