Yuxi (Wendy) Sun

The tenant unilaterally repudiated a commercial lease and vacated the premises.

The landlord refused to accept the repudiation, kept the lease alive, and sued for rent arrears without taking steps to mitigate by re-letting the premises.

The tenant argued that the Supreme Court of Canada's precedent in Highway Properties, which allows a landlord to insist on performance without mitigating, should be overturned in light of modern contract law principles.

The court held it was bound by vertical stare decisis to follow Highway Properties and the Ontario Court of Appeal's subsequent affirmations of the rule.

The court also rejected the tenant's argument that the lease capped damages at two years' rent, finding the cap only applied if the landlord terminated the lease.

Summary judgment was granted to the landlord for rent arrears.

The plaintiffs in a competition law class action regarding a price-fixing conspiracy for lithium ion batteries brought a motion for consent certification for settlement purposes and approval of a notice plan.

The plaintiffs reached a settlement with the LG Chem defendants for USD $3.9 million.

The court found that the criteria for certification under section 5 of the Class Proceedings Act, 1992 were met and granted the motion.

The plaintiffs and a defendant by counterclaim, Mr. Sauro, brought motions to strike portions of the statement of defence and counterclaim.

The plaintiffs sought to strike paragraphs alleging ulterior motive and financial mismanagement.

The court struck the paragraphs pleading motive as frivolous and vexatious, but retained those pleading causation.

Mr. Sauro sought to strike the counterclaim against him, arguing it was improperly constituted as a counterclaim rather than a third-party claim.

The court agreed, finding Mr. Sauro was not a necessary and proper party to the counterclaim against the plaintiffs, and struck the counterclaim against him.