Canada Case Law

Baglole v. MacEachern

Court

Nova Scotia Small Claims Court

The claim is dismissed because the evidence shows the water trough and repeated sump activity were patent and/or known or observable prior to closing, there was no proof of a knowing, reckless or fraudulent misrepresentation or active concealment of a dangerous latent defect by the sellers, the claimant waived conditions after inspection, and post-closing events (including sump re‑routing and power outages) materially contributed to the flooding; the counterclaim is dismissed for lack of evidentiary support and jurisdictional relevance.

Source excerpt

• Property disclosure statement
• Misrepresentation
• Latent vs patent defects
• Caveat emptor
• Damages - betterment
• Counterclaim dismissal

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MacQuarrie v. Birch

Court

Supreme Court of Nova Scotia

The sellers (through their agent) represented they would prepare a $3,000 counter-amendment and allow the purchasers until the next morning to ‘firm up’; the purchasers and their agent reasonably relied on that representation to their detriment; equity thus estops the sellers from enforcing the strict midnight condition date, entitling the purchasers to return of their deposit with interest and relieving them of liability for the subsequent lower sale price.

Source excerpt

• Deposit return
• Condition precedent
• Promissory estoppel
• Reliance and detriment
• Agent representations
• Amendment of contract

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Leppert v. Gillis

Court

Nova Scotia Small Claims Court

Claim dismissed: on balance of probabilities the defendants did not fraudulently or recklessly misrepresent, did not actively conceal a dangerous latent defect, and purchasers waived conditions after receiving an inspection that flagged issues; therefore caveat emptor applies and no actionable PDS misrepresentation or contractual breach was proven.

Source excerpt

• Property disclosure statement
• Latent vs patent defects
• Misrepresentation
• Caveat emptor
• Inspection reliance
• Betterment in damages

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Solaris Custom Home Inc. v. Trovao

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court held the parties had an oral cost-plus construction contract, not a binding budget cap, and awarded Solaris the unpaid invoices plus a builders' lien.

• Cost-plus contract
• Oral contract
• Budget as contractual term
• Estimates
• Builder's lien
• Pre-judgment interest

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JJETS v. Jeha

Court

Supreme Court of Nova Scotia

The court held that Article 3.56 was a broad disclosure warranty and the defendants breached it by failing to disclose the material extent and near-completion status of the Wilson's Gas Pricers Project which materially affected ECS's 2014 profitability; the court also found certain WIP and inventory overstatements ($17,503 invoiced WIP and $1,629.86 unusable inventory) contrary to Articles 3.9 and 3.10. However, the plaintiff failed to prove causation and quantum of loss (no reliable valuation evidence and surplus working capital at closing), therefore all contractual and tort claims were dis…

Source excerpt

• Representations and warranties
• Disclosure obligations
• Due diligence
• Damages
• Work in process (wip)
• Inventory accounting

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Rosenbrock v. Van der Wath

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court dismissed a franchise claim tied to immigration expectations, holding the promised return of funds applied only if BC PNP applications were rejected and the plaintiffs did not timely invoke it.

• Collateral contract
• Addendum interpretation
• Breach of contract
• Waiver
• Mitigation of damages
• Summary trial suitability

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The Boxmaker, Inc. v. Prime Packaging Company

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court dismissed Boxmaker’s summary trial application, finding an evidentiary gap in the plaintiff’s materials and unresolved factual questions about credit checks and a time-sensitive order.

• Summary trial
• Breach of contract
• Time is of the essence
• Credit application and credit checks
• Counterclaim for lost profits
• Evidence and credibility

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Li v. Hu

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court found an oral assignment agreement for a Vancouver pre-sale unit, rejected negligent misrepresentation and unjust enrichment, and held the plaintiff repudiated.

• Assignment of contract
• Anticipatory repudiation
• Constructive trust
• Negligent misrepresentation
• Certificate of pending litigation (cpl)
• Mitigation of damages

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Century 21 Trident Ltd. v. MacDougall Medicine Professional Corporation Ltd.

Court

Nova Scotia Small Claims Court

The BDBA remained in effect because there was no mutual written termination and no evidence of material breach by the listing agent; therefore Peter MacDougall Medicine owed the contractual commission and related HST. The indemnity claim against Colleen Ryan and Atlantic Real Estate Services Ltd. fails because no special relationship or reasonable reliance was established and the coffee-shop conversation did not give rise to actionable negligent misrepresentation.

Source excerpt

• Buyer designation brokerage agreement
• Termination of contract
• Breach of contract
• Indemnity
• Standard of care
• Hedley byrne negligent misrepresentation

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Sproule v. Nichols

Court

Supreme Court of Nova Scotia

No fraudulent misrepresentation proven; however sellers acted negligently by failing to update the PDS after discovering the leak and by allowing concealment of the defect, thereby giving rise to liability for negligent misrepresentation and breach of a collateral warranty incorporated into the Agreement of Purchase and Sale; purchasers reasonably relied on the PDS and suffered damages, and principals are liable for acts of their agent within scope of authority.

Source excerpt

• Fraudulent misrepresentation
• Negligent misrepresentation
• Collateral warranty
• Caveat emptor
• Disclosure obligations
• Damages

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