Ronald Prehogan

This case concerns an appeal from an arbitration award.

The applicants appealed an arbitrator's decision that found the respondent was entitled to 50% of corporate shares based on proprietary estoppel.

The court granted leave to appeal and set aside the arbitrator's award.

The court held that proprietary estoppel in Ontario is currently limited to interests in land and cannot be extended to other forms of property, such as shares, by an arbitrator.

Furthermore, the court found that the email on which the proprietary estoppel claim was based was internally inconsistent, ambiguous, and conditional, thus failing to meet the requirement for a clear and unequivocal promise.

The respondent's claim was dismissed.

This is an appeal of an arbitration award concerning the beneficial ownership of shares in a company.

The arbitrator had found that an email created an express trust, granting the respondent 50% of the applicant's personal shares.

The court granted leave to appeal, finding that the arbitrator erred in law by allowing the email to overwhelm the terms of a formal trust agreement.

The court varied the arbitrator's decision, ruling that only the formal Burwell Family Trust existed and the email did not create a separate express trust for the personal shares.

The court upheld the arbitrator's jurisdiction regarding the scope of the arbitration and his decision on the Limitations Act.

The issue of proprietary estoppel was remitted back to the arbitrator for determination and final disposition.