Two sets of appellants — a global air transport association and an Iraqi state entity — challenged a Quebec Superior Court writ of seizure before judgment by garnishment obtained by a Dutch company seeking to enforce international arbitration awards.
The majority dismissed the appeals for the reasons of the Quebec Court of Appeal, upholding the Superior Court's jurisdiction on the basis that the association's obligation to the Iraqi civil aviation authority constituted a debt situated in Quebec at the association's domicile.
In dissent, Côté J. would have allowed the appeals, finding that under Quebec civil law principles of mandate the property — air navigation charges held in a Swiss bank account — remained in the mandator's patrimony and was located in Switzerland, outside the jurisdiction of the Quebec Superior Court.
