William S.M. Cord

The Team Lead-Civil in the Toronto Region issued an administrative endorsement assigning Justice P. Cavanagh as the case management judge for the actions and directed that a case conference be held as soon as possible.

The plaintiff purchaser sued the defendant vendors for specific performance or damages after a real estate transaction failed to close.

The transaction aborted because a third party, a previous prospective purchaser, registered a certificate of pending litigation against the property days before closing.

The defendants brought a motion for summary judgment to dismiss the action, relying on the annulment clause in the agreement of purchase and sale.

The court granted the motion, finding the defendants acted reasonably and in good faith, and were unable to remove the certificate of pending litigation by the closing date, meaning the agreement came to an end by its own terms.