Oswald v. Start Up SRL

Oswald v. Start Up SRL

The court admitted many financial statements, journal entries, governmental correspondence and ordinary course documents as business records or under the principled hearsay exception where authentication and threshold reliability/necessity were satisfied; the court excluded specific spreadsheets and summaries...

Source-derived case information.

Citation
2020 BCSC 205
Parties
Plaintiff; Defendant by Counterclaim: Nevil Oswald; Defendant; Plaintiff by Counterclaim: Start Up SRL; Defendant by Counterclaim: Narendra Mhamunkar
Court
Supreme Court of British Columbia
Jurisdiction
Canada
Judgment Date
18 February 2020
Procedural Posture
Specific Performance Dispute and Counterclaim for Damages Arising From Share Purchase (corporate/share Valuation) / Voir Dire on Admissibility of Evidence
Outcome
Voir dire rulings: numerous source financial documents, journal entries and governmental notices admitted as business records or under principled hearsay exception; certain investigatory spreadsheets and summaries prepared for litigation (not in ordinary course) excluded; Mr. Rinero's valuation spreadsheet at tab 1...
Legal Topics
Specific Performance, Hearsay, Business Records Exception, Authentication, Expert Evidence Admissibility, Lay Opinion Evidence, Principled Approach to Hearsay, Admissibility of Summaries/demonstrative Aids, Share Valuation Disputes, Government Tax Assessments
Source Language
english
Contract Evidence Commercial Law Tax Civil Procedure Specific Performance Hearsay Business Records Exception +7 more

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Parties

Nevil Oswald

Plaintiff; Defendant by Counterclaim

Start Up SRL

Defendant; Plaintiff by Counterclaim

Narendra Mhamunkar

Defendant by Counterclaim

Procedural Posture

Specific Performance Dispute and Counterclaim for Damages Arising From Share Purchase (corporate/share Valuation) / Voir Dire on Admissibility of Evidence

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Whether source documents (tabs 2-18) are authenticated and admissible as business records or under principled hearsay exception
  2. 2 Whether spreadsheets prepared for litigation are admissible
  3. 3 Whether Mr. Rinero's share valuation and his viva voce evidence constitute inadmissible opinion evidence or admissible demonstrative/compendious statement

Ratio Decidendi

The court admitted many financial statements, journal entries, governmental correspondence and ordinary course documents as business records or under the principled hearsay exception where authentication and threshold reliability/necessity were satisfied; the court excluded specific spreadsheets and summaries created for the investigation/litigation that lacked maker's personal knowledge or ordinary course indicia (notably sub-tabs 3,4,5) and excluded tab 1 and Mr. Rinero's viva voce valuation evidence as inadmissible opinion evidence because he lacked the necessary independence, expertise and his role was that of an advocate rather than an impartial expert.

Court Disposition

Voir dire rulings: numerous source financial documents, journal entries and governmental notices admitted as business records or under principled hearsay exception; certain investigatory spreadsheets and summaries prepared for litigation (not in ordinary course) excluded; Mr. Rinero's valuation spreadsheet at tab 1...

Orders

  • Admit financial statements (eg. Hero India March 31, 2015 and March 31, 2016; December 31, 2016 statements) as business records
  • Admit journal entries, summaries of journal entries, bank receipts and tax payment proofs as business records