Wei Jiang

The plaintiffs brought a motion to strike the jury notice in a motor vehicle accident action, arguing that delays in jury trials caused by the COVID-19 pandemic would prejudice the plaintiff's loss of income claim.

The court dismissed the motion, finding that the plaintiffs failed to discharge their onus to show that justice would be better served by discharging the jury.

The court noted that the delay was partly due to the parties' own pre-trial timelines and that jury trials might resume in the near future.

This is a costs endorsement following an appeal.

The appellant, Yong Yeow Tan, was ordered to pay costs to the respondents, C & K Mortgage Services Inc. and the Receiver for Camilla Court Homes Inc. and Elite Homes Inc. C & K Mortgage Services Inc. was awarded $20,000, and the Receiver was awarded $7,500, inclusive of taxes and disbursements.

The appellant entered into an agreement of purchase and sale for a residential unit in a condominium project and paid a $500,000 deposit, mostly directly to the developer.

The developer was subsequently placed into receivership by the first mortgagee.

The receiver disclaimed the appellant's agreement of purchase and sale.

The appellant sought an order requiring the receiver to complete the sale, arguing he had an equitable interest in the property.

The Court of Appeal upheld the motion judge's dismissal, finding that the agreement explicitly subordinated the purchaser's interest to any mortgages and that the appellant's equitable claims could not defeat the mortgagee's prior secured legal interest.

The plaintiffs, two major banks, sued to recover funds wired to the defendant money services business as a result of a fraud perpetrated by third parties.

The defendant brought a motion for summary judgment, arguing it received the funds without knowledge of the fraud and changed its position in good faith by arranging equivalent payments in Chinese yuan to a foreign account.

The court dismissed the motion, finding genuine issues for trial regarding whether the defendant actually changed its position in good faith, given conflicting expert evidence on its anti-money laundering compliance and the lack of direct evidence regarding the foreign exchange transactions.

The appellants appealed a decision of the Superior Court regarding the interpretation of a "Net Developable Area" clause in two agreements for the purchase and sale of development lands.

The central issue was whether tableland used for storm water management ponds was included in the definition of Net Developable Area when such lands fell within the Protected Countryside designation of the Greenbelt Plan.

The Court of Appeal upheld the application judge's interpretation, finding that the parenthetical exception did not apply to Greenbelt lands and that the terms "open space lands" and "Greenbelt lands" have distinct meanings subject to different planning controls.