As we enter 2025, we look back on five important decisions that made the news in 2024. Here is the the first case.
On October 11, 2024, the Supreme Court of Canada released two decisions, Aquino v Bondfield Construction Co. (Aquino) and Scott v Golden Oaks Enterprises Inc (Golden Oaks), concerning the liability of
Can a lender challenge debtors’ transactions with a parent company as fraudulent conveyances when the debtors had disclosed the transactions before the loan was advanced? In NYDIG ABL LLC v IE CA 3 Holdings Ltd, the Supreme Court of British Columbia said yes. On appeal, the British Columbia Court of Appeal in IE CA
The general rule in bankruptcy is that a debtor receives a “fresh start” and is discharged from prior debts, but this is subject to certain exceptions. Subsection 178(1) of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA) sets out eight classes of debts that are not released by an order of discharge including an exception for debts that arise out
Mareva orders, also known as freezing orders, may be granted when there is a risk that a defendant might move its assets out of reach of the court’s jurisdiction. Mareva orders can freeze assets owned directly or indirectly by a defendant. Oftentimes a defendant subject to a freezing order has other creditors seeking repayment. Can
In a decision released in 2023, Justice Vermette of the Ontario Superior Court rejected an application to set aside an arbitration award on procedural fairness and jurisdictional grounds. This decision clarified when Ontario’s International Commercial Arbitration Act (the “ICAA”) applies and confirmed that arbitration awards may only be set aside by courts on narrow grounds.
In Ontario, as a general rule, partial indemnity, which ranges from approximately 40-60% of the actual costs incurred by a party, is awarded to the successful litigant. Full indemnity, which comprises 100% of the costs incurred, is granted only in exceptional and rare circumstances. An order for full indemnity is even more unusual if the
Can individuals take steps to make themselves ‘creditor proof’ against future creditors, even when there is no such creditor at the time? If there are sufficient “badges of fraud” present, the answer may be no.
In a post last year, we discussed the decision of the British Columbia Court of Appeal in Poonian v. British Columbia (Securities Commission), 2022 BCCA 274 in which the British Columbia Court of Appeal held that an administrative penalty by a securities commission relating to fraud survives bankruptcy. The penalty arose from findings made by
Background
In Li et al. v. Barber et al., the Ontario Superior Court of Justice dismissed a motion by two “Freedom Convoy” organizers to release $200,000 of previously frozen funds needed to retain legal counsel to defend a class action lawsuit. Notwithstanding the nuances of this particular case, this decision is important because the
In NDrive, Navigation Systems S.A. v. Zhou the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld a partial summary judgment in a fraud case. This is significant because awards of partial summary judgment are rare. This case also matters because the court awarded both punitive damages and full indemnity costs.
