Ontario Superior Court of Justice
Court File No.: CV-24-00727917-00ES
Date: 2025-06-17
Parties
Michael Hockney, David Hockney, Johnathan Thomas Hockney, Jennifer Hockney, Emma Hockney, Will Hockney, Jack Hockney, Plaintiffs
- and -
Mary Jane Kneeland, in her personal capacity and in her capacity as Estate Trustee of The Estate of Mary Jane Hockney, deceased, Defendant
Before: Frederick L. Myers
Counsel: Melissa Elmaleh, for the Applicants
Heard: June 16 and 17, 2025
Endorsement
Background and Procedural History
[1] By order dated April 7, 2025, I converted this application into an action and set the deadline for the defendant to deliver her Statement of Defence by May 16, 2025.
[2] The defendant has failed to defend the action and the time for doing so has passed. I am satisfied that the orders and procedural directions made in this proceeding have been served on the defendant in ways that have reached her and provided her ample notice of the need to respond to participate in this proceeding. She chooses not to do so.
[3] The defendant is therefore deemed noted in default. She is thereby deemed to admit the allegations of fact pleaded against her in the statement of claim as identified in the April 7, 2025 endorsement.
Findings on Liability
[4] The defendant is a lawyer who serves as estate trustee of the estate of the late grandmother of the plaintiffs. For reasons which the defendant will not explain, she has not completed the administration of the estate nor distributed funds that she holds in trust for the plaintiffs.
[5] This case is an egregious example of breaches of duty and is made worse by the fact that the defendant is a lawyer who has been allowed to repeatedly ignore her duties to people who thought they could rely on her professionalism.
[6] The defendant’s failure to carry out her duties and failure to pay to the plaintiffs the money due to them amounts to a breach of trust and breach of fiduciary duties at minimum. It is also a tortious conversion (or civil theft) of the funds. It also amounts to an unjust enrichment for which there is no juridical justification offered.
[7] Accordingly, the defendant Kneeland is liable to the plaintiffs both in her capacity as estate trustee but also in her personal capacity. The breaches of trust, breaches of fiduciary duties, unjust enrichment, and conversion are torts or claims for which the defendant is liable personally.
Damages and Aggravated Damages
[8] In their affidavit on damages, the plaintiffs swear that the initial net value of the estate was $251,571.89 (plus an unidentified amount for CPP benefits).
[9] On May 7, 20217, the defendant distributed $105,000 leaving $146,571.89 due. This amounts to $20,938.84 for each plaintiff beneficiary.
[10] I make no deductions for estate expenses as none have been proved by Ms. Kneeland.
[11] The plaintiffs are entitled to prejudgment interest on the sum of $146,571.89 from May 8, 2017 until today and post judgment interest under ss 128 and 129 of the Courts of Justice Act, RSO 1990, c C.43.
[12] The plaintiffs ask for damages of $8,000 each for distress. As I account for each plaintiff’s individual damages below, the nature of the distress each suffered will be apparent in the harms caused to them by Ms. Kneeland’s wrongdoing. Accordingly I grant the $56,000 in the aggregate on this head. I note that had I not been satisfied with a payment of modest aggravated damages, I would have been inclined to award punitive damages in at least the amount sought for distress due to the egregious and intentional wrongdoing of Ms. Kneeland.
Individual Plaintiffs' Claims
[13] Emma Hockney advises that she intended to use her inheritance as down payment on a house in Hamilton. Alternatively she could have used it to avoid the bulk of the student debt she took out to return to school in 2019. She has also been one of the principal contacts for the plaintiffs with the Law Society of Ontario and suffered the distress of the defendant’s ongoing failure to meet her obligations. She seeks damages of $175,000 for the loss of investment profit on a house and $25,000 for additional debt she was forced to carry.
[14] Emma Hockney puts too much load on a missed payment of $20,000. She has no evidence that she could have bought a house with the missing $20,000 as a downpayment or that she could have afforded to carry a mortgage. The guestimate of loss of investment gains is too remote and speculative. Moreover, had the funds been used as a downpayment on a house, they would not have been available to defray education debt.
[15] In all, providing Emma Hockney prejudgment interest on her damages compensates her for the loss of use of funds barring Ms. Kneeland having actual notice of a lost opportunity for the funds or a significantly less speculative assertion of loss. Regardless, it is clear that Emma Hockney was a young person embarking on her adult life who had good things to do with the gift promised by her grandmother. I accept that chasing Ms. Kneeland, watching a trusted lawyer refuse to perform, and watching opportunities pass her by (or unnecessarily adding to her debt load) is a fair and proper basis to award $8,000 to her in aggravated damages. The amount is sufficiently modest so as not to require medical evidence.
[16] Will Hockney testifies that he suffered a mouth injury while playing hockey at university. He needed $8,000 - $9,000 to pay for surgery to repair his mouth. He used his OSAP grant to pay for his dental surgery. He was left with insufficient money to pay for school. He estimates that he has suffered injury to his earning capacity and extra debt load of $100,000 because he did not have the inheritance money to pay for his surgery.
[17] Once again, while sympathetic, I cannot grant an order for damages on such speculation. There is no telling whether Will Hockney would have received the funds in time to meet his medical needs or whether, if he did, he might have applied them to another use.
[18] Will Hockney swears:
Had I received my inheritance on time, I would not have had to drop out of university, I would have been able to finish my degree, graduate, and be in a far more advantageous financial position today.
[19] It does not strike me as impossible to make a claim like this especially with Ms. Kneeland repeatedly representing that she was working on completing the estate administration in good faith. But I would need to see some law on the nature of loss of earning capacity as a head of damages for the causes of action proven in this proceeding and better evidence quantifying any actual loss of earning capacity.
[20] Jack Hockney testifies:
In 2016, I began my undergraduate studies at York University with the expectation that I would soon receive my inheritance from my grandmother's estate. I applied for OSAP to help cover tuition, but based on my financial circumstances, I was only eligible for partial funding. I still enrolled in the program, relying on the belief that the estate funds would be distributed shortly and would help cover the remaining costs.
That distribution never came. After completing his first year, he had to withdraw from the program because he could not afford to continue. The financial gap was too wide without the support he had been counting on from his grandmother's estate.
Had he received his inheritance in 2015, he would have been able to remain in his university program and complete his degree as planned. That financial support would have put him in very different financial circumstances than what he has experienced over the past 10 years. He would have completed his degree, had better employment prospects, and been in a position to earn significantly more income than he has been able to without that education.
[21] This claim is perhaps stronger than the claim of Will Hockney given the greater specificity of facts and the clearer reliance and need for receipt of his entitlement. But, as with the prior plaintiffs, I need both legal submissions and particularized proof of loss to translate claims like these into a judgment.
[22] Jennifer Hockney testifies:
In 2015, I was recently divorced and in the process of rebuilding my life. I had planned to use my inheritance from my grandmother to put a down payment on a modest home for myself and my three children. At the time, based on data from the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board, the median price of a townhouse in Abbotsford, British Columbia was approximately $295,000, and the median price for a condo was around $160,000. A copy of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board from April 2015 is attached at Tab "F." I was actively searching for a property to purchase in order to provide stable housing for my family. However, without access to my inheritance, I was unable to afford a down payment and missed my opportunity to enter the housing market at that time.
I remained in the rental market as a result, and, during the first five years alone, I was required to move four times due to rising rental costs and unstable housing arrangements. This was highly disruptive to my children's lives and created continuous financial and emotional stress. Had I received my inheritance in or around 2015, as I should have, I would have been able to purchase a home and avoid nearly a decade of rental instability and hardship.
[23] Like her sister Emma, it is not clear that $20,000 would necessarily have been sufficient to enable Jennifer Hockney to buy and carry a home as speculated. She also says that her lack of funds required her to postpone her return to university to pursue a career in social work. But had she used the funds for a house, they would not have been available for education.
[24] David Hockney testifies that he incurred costs that he had to pay using his savings rather than the expected inheritance. He also says that had he received his inheritance he could have travelled home from his residence in BC to pay his respects and obtain closure. He claims compensation for investment losses and distress. Both of these heads are compensated already with PJI and aggravated damages as above.
[25] Michael Hockney swears:
In or around 2022, I was actively searching for a home to purchase. Had I received my inheritance from my grandmother's estate in a timely manner, I would have had additional funds available to increase my down payment or consider a broader range of properties. Due to the delay, my options were limited, and I ultimately purchased a more modest home than I would have if the funds had been available.
Shortly after moving in, I was required to install a new HVAC system, which cost approximately $13,000. Without access to my inheritance, I was compelled to finance the entire amount through a line of credit. I continue to repay this debt, which accrues interest and adds to my financial burden.
Taking into account the cost of the HVAC system (including ongoing interest), the increased cost of borrowing due to a reduced down payment, and the lost opportunity to purchase a more valuable home, I estimate my total financial impact to be approximately $50,000.
[26] The purchase of a smaller home is not a compensable loss. Like the others, the timing and availability of a promised inheritance to fund specific expenses is speculative. The absence of proof of interest expenses is a problem as well. PJI is provided to compensate the loss of use of funds.
[27] Jonathan Hockney testifies:
I first want to acknowledge a troubling statement made to me by the Respondent during a phone call a while back. When I confronted her about how she had taken advantage of my grandmother and mishandled the estate, she responded with words to the effect of: "I'll bleed the estate dry—you'll never see a penny." Our grandmother had placed her trust in the Respondent, who was also her friend, to distribute her life savings to her grandchildren. That trust was betrayed, and the experience has been deeply upsetting and emotionally damaging.
Had I received my inheritance when I was supposed to, I would have been in a position to buy an investment property. I was actively looking at the time, when prices were still within reach, but I couldn't move forward because I didn't have the down payment which the inheritance funds would have covered. The property I was considering at the time was valued at approximately $300,000. That same property more than doubled since then. Because I missed the opportunity to purchase when prices were accessible, I lost out on hundreds of thousands of dollars in equity and appreciation. As housing prices climbed, the window to purchase the property passed me by, and I ended up carrying debt with interest—money I never should have had to borrow.
[28] He seeks $100,000 for, “the missed opportunity to purchase real estate, the debt I've taken on, the rising cost of housing, and the emotional distress I've endured.”
[29] It appears that this plaintiff has some particularity to the property he says he missed out on buying. If he can show that the amount unlawfully withheld by Ms. Kneeland would have made the difference in his ability to purchase, that the timing of when distribution ought to have been made fits, and that this type of loss is not too remote for the misconduct found, perhaps he can establish a compensable loss. The cost of interest on borrowed funds remains problematic as discussed above.
Judgment and Costs
[30] I am prepared to grant default judgment against Ms. Kneeland in both her capacities today for $146,571.89 (or $20,938.84 per plaintiff) plus $56,000 (or $8,000 per plaintiff) for aggravated damages plus prejudgment interest under the Courts of Justice Act.
[31] The plaintiffs seek substantial indemnity for their costs in the amount of $15,000 all-inclusive. This is a fair and reasonable quantification of costs caused by the reprehensible conduct of the defendant. So ordered.
[32] If the plaintiffs are content, counsel should provide me with a draft judgment including a prejudgment interest calculation for an amount to be included in the judgment. If the plaintiffs wish to pursue any of the other claims referred to above, then counsel should advise of a date by which she will deliver further evidence and legal submissions in relation to each claim to be made.
Frederick L. Myers
Date: June 17, 2025