Case information

Courts — Judges — Impartiality — Contractual liability — Whether there is reasonable apprehension of bias on part of trial judge — Whether trial judge erred in fact and in law — Whether there is reasonable apprehension of bias on part of Court of Appeal judges — Whether Court of Appeal erred in law.

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.

The applicant was, for several years, the majority shareholder and principal officer of a company that produced and sold wood shavings, GPM Ripe Inc. (“GPM”). In 2009, a financing plan provided that the respondent would lend GPM $900,000 and that the applicant had to grant a temporary suretyship as a condition of the loans. In March 2010, when part of the loans had already been paid out, the respondent informed the applicant that it would not pay out any additional amount to GPM because of several risk factors. In August 2010, GPM was deemed to have made an assignment of its property. The applicant brought an action against the respondent, claiming a total of $35 million in compensatory and punitive damages. The respondent sued the applicant as surety for the amounts loaned to GPM and claimed $80,000 from him. The Superior Court dismissed the applicant’s application, allowed the respondent’s application and ordered the applicant to pay the respondent $80,000. The Court of Appeal dismissed the applicant’s appeal.