The respondents were injured in a water taxi accident in Venice, Italy, and sued the foreign water taxi operators in Ontario, relying on their travel booking contract with Amex Canada to establish jurisdiction.
The motion judge found that the Ontario court had jurisdiction based on the fourth presumptive connecting factor from Van Breda (a contract connected with the dispute was made in the province).
The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, holding that even if the presumptive connecting factor was established, the foreign appellants successfully rebutted it because the Ontario contract had little or nothing to do with the subject matter of the litigation against them.
