Shaan Tolani

The plaintiff brought a motion seeking the recognition and enforcement of a foreign arbitral award issued by CIETAC against the defendant for over $233 million CAD.

The defendant argued the motion constituted an improper partial summary judgment because the plaintiff's action also included a second stage seeking declarations against the defendant's wife regarding Ontario real properties.

The court recognized the arbitral award, finding no grounds to refuse enforcement under the International Commercial Arbitration Act, 2017, and held that partial summary judgment was appropriate as the recognition issue was discrete and would not cause delay or risk inconsistent findings.

In the context of CCAA proceedings, the court-appointed Monitor sought a Mareva injunction against a former executive, his company, and his spouse.

The Monitor alleged that the executive had misappropriated millions of dollars from the insolvent companies for personal use, including purchasing a yacht, private jet fractional interests, and real estate, while failing to remit significant taxes.

The court found a strong prima facie case of fraud and breach of fiduciary duty against the executive and his company, and inferred a real risk of asset dissipation given their ties to St. Lucia.

An uncapped Mareva injunction was granted against them.

However, the court found insufficient evidence of actual knowledge to establish a strong prima facie case of knowing assistance or receipt against the spouse, and instead ordered her to provide a statement of worldwide assets.

The Receiver brought a motion for court approval of multiple settlement agreements resolving litigation arising from the receivership of Distinct Infrastructure Group Inc., and for a sealing order over the confidential settlement terms.

The court approved the settlements, finding them to be a fair and reasonable commercial resolution.

The court also granted the sealing order, applying the Sherman Estate test and finding that the public interest in promoting settlements and preserving commercially sensitive information outweighed the negative effects on the open court principle.