SPay Inc. sought leave to appeal a motion judge's decision not to stay a receiver's motion for judgment in favour of international arbitration.
The motion judge had ruled that the arbitration provisions were inoperative due to Ontario's "single proceeding model" in insolvency cases, finding SPay was not a "stranger to the bankruptcy" because its proposed set-off against Mundo Media Ltd.'s largest account receivable effectively made it a creditor.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the motion for leave to appeal, concluding that the proposed appeal lacked prima facie merit and did not raise issues of general importance.
The court affirmed that insolvency courts have broad discretion to centralize proceedings, and that a party asserting a significant set-off is not a stranger to the insolvency, thus falling under the single proceeding model.
