Taggart (Mer Bleue) Corporation v. Carte Blanche Lounge Limited et al.

[Indexed as: Taggart (Mer Bleue) Corp. v. Carte Blanche Lounge Ltd.]

Ontario Reports

Ontario Superior Court of Justice

Corthorn J.

September 17, 2020

152 O.R. (3d) 724 | 2020 ONSC 5582

Case Summary

Civil procedure — Costs — Full indemnity — Plaintiff successfully moving for default judgment for breach of lease against defendants having been noted in default — Plaintiff entitled to full indemnity costs for abandoning significant portion of claim to move toward timely enforcement of judgment and for seeking reduced pre-judgment interest — Time docketed, hourly rates, work done and disbursements incurred were all reasonable.

Civil procedure — Default judgment — Corporate tenant falling into arrears of rent under commercial lease — Tenant entering into amending agreement, signed by tenant's president, to pay arrears in monthly instalments — Tenant missing rent payments and arrears payments and vacating premises — Landlord terminating lease and commencing action against tenant and its president — Defendants noted in default and landlord moving for default judgment — Motion granted — All the facts, including allegations deemed to be admitted by defendants having been noted in default, established entitlement to default judgment against both defendants.

Landlord and tenant — Commercial tenancies — Breach — Corporate tenant falling into arrears of rent under commercial lease — Tenant entering into amending agreement, signed by tenant's president, to pay arrears in monthly instalments — Tenant missing rent payments and arrears payments and vacating premises — Landlord terminating lease and commencing action against tenant and its president — Defendants noted in default and landlord moving for default judgment — Plaintiff entitled to enforce its rights against president as if he were the tenant named in the lease.

The individual defendant, J, was the president of the corporate defendant, C, which had a ten-year commercial lease with the plaintiff. Just over a year into the term, C fell into arrears of rent. C entered into a lease amending agreement which J signed in his capacity as president and in his personal capacity. Pursuant to the agreement, the arrears were to be paid in equal monthly instalments. One rent payment and at least one arrears payment was missed and cheques for four consecutive arrears payments were returned for insufficient funds. C ceased [page725] operating its business and vacated the premises in July 2019. The plaintiff terminated the lease and commenced an action for damages for breach of the lease and breach of the amending agreement. The action was not defended and both defendants were noted in default. The plaintiff moved for default judgment against both defendants.

Held, the motion should be granted.

The plaintiff was entitled to judgment against C for $257,927.17 plus pre-judgment interest and costs. The plaintiff was entitled to terminate the lease for C's failure to pay arrears, to pay rent, and to continuously, actively, and diligently carry on business at the premises. The breach further entitled the plaintiff to three months' accelerated rent. The plaintiff had originally claimed damages for loss of rent to the end of the lease in 2026, but on the motion restricted that claim for the roughly one-year period from the premises being vacated to the date of the hearing. The monthly amount claimed for basic rent was a reasonable reflection of the actual rental value of the premises. Separate and apart from its entitlement to rent, the plaintiff was entitled to the