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.

Contracts – Suretyship – Failure of action to enforce suretyship – Bankruptcy of maple syrup producer resulting in losses for applicant – Date on which debt exigible – Claim under suretyship found to have been made late – Whether Court of Appeal erred in determining date of debt – Whether Court of Appeal erred in holding that claim had been made late and in refusing to give full effect to act of suretyship.

After a company that produced maple syrup defaulted on payment, the applicant Fédération des producteurs acéricoles du Québec made a claim for payment under a suretyship contracted by the respondent Unique General Insurance Inc. as security for the company’s obligations. Unique General Insurance Inc. in turn called O.P.M. Investments Inc. and Pierre Habib in warranty.

The suretyship contract provided that a claim was to be made within thirty (30) working days after the date the debt became exigible under the maple syrup marketing agreement issued by the Régie des marchés agricoles et alimentaires du Québec. The courts below dismissed the action to enforce suretyship and held that the Fédération des producteurs acéricoles du Québec had made its claim outside the mandatory time limit of thirty (30) days.