Case information

None.

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

Civil procedure – Abuse of process – Third party claims – Commercial law – Corporations – Directors’ liability – Torts – Negligence – Duty of care – Can corporate directors be held personally liable to third parties for general negligence or mis-management of the corporation, where there are no allegations of actions by the director that would create a personal duty of care to third parties – Is it valid for a defendant to bring a third party claim against corporate directors for contribution and indemnity, where the corporate plaintiff’s claim against the defendant is only for the defendant’s proportion of fault – Is it an abuse of process to join corporate directors as third parties to litigation involving the corporation, where there is no possible remedy against the directors and the proceedings are simply a means to compel discovery of the directors – Rules of Court, N.B. Reg. 82-73, Rules 23.01 and 27.09.

Deer Island Credit Union brought an action in damages against the respondent auditors, alleging negligence and breach of contract for their failure to discover fraudulent misappropriations by a former Credit Union employee from 1995 to 2007, totalling $1,849,576.00. The respondents denied liability and alternatively pled contributory negligence by the Credit Union. In its reply, the Credit Union acknowledged that, should it be found that its officers or directors caused or contributed to the loss, recovery against the respondents would be reduced according to the proportion of the loss ascribed to them. The respondents subsequently brought a third party claim against the individual members of the Credit Union’s board of directors, claiming negligence in the performance of their duties. The directors and Credit Union brought a motion to strike out the third party claims against the directors. The Court of Queen’s Bench of New Brunswick granted the motion but that decision was reversed and set aside by the Court of Appeal for New Brunswick.