This appeal concerns a failed real estate transaction where both parties mistakenly believed the property was subject to a prescriptive easement.
The purchaser, Roalno Inc., refused to close without a price abatement or extinguishment of the supposed easement.
The vendors refused these terms.
Roalno sued for specific performance with an abatement.
The trial judge dismissed the action, finding Roalno breached the agreement by refusing to close.
The Court of Appeal upheld this decision, concluding that Roalno had anticipatorily breached the contract by demanding new terms based on a legally erroneous belief, and that the vendors had accepted this repudiation, thereby ending the contract.
The court also clarified that statutory rights under the Road Access Act do not constitute an easement or right-of-way under the agreement's warranties.