R. Hettiarachchi

The plaintiff, a real estate broker, brought an urgent motion for a Certificate of Pending Litigation (CPL) on a pre-construction property after the defendant developer terminated the Agreement of Purchase and Sale.

The developer terminated the agreement upon discovering the plaintiff had submitted a false mortgage approval letter.

The court dismissed the motion, finding that while the plaintiff might have a triable interest in land, the property was not unique and damages would be an adequate remedy.

Crucially, the court held that the plaintiff did not come to court with clean hands, as he had tendered an admittedly false document, and thus was not entitled to equitable relief.

In a dispute arising from a failed real estate transaction for the purchase and development of condominium property, the plaintiff sought leave to amend its statement of claim to increase damages and to consolidate its action with a mirror action commenced by the defendant.

The defendant opposed and brought a motion to compel examinations of the plaintiff’s non-party lawyers, arguing solicitor-client privilege had been waived.

The court granted leave to amend and ordered consolidation of the mirror actions, finding no prejudice and that procedural efficiency favoured a single proceeding.

The motion to examine the lawyers was dismissed because reasonable efforts had not been made to obtain the information through other means and the proposed examination sought legal opinions rather than factual evidence.

The court further held that the pleadings did not place solicitor-client advice in issue or amount to waiver of privilege.