Case information

Arbitration — Arbitration award — Homologation — Natural justice — Right to be heard — Whether party that chooses commercial arbitration waives full measure of compliance with rules of natural justice, to which it is entitled in court of law — If so, what rules of natural justice are to be applied with less rigour in commercial arbitration context — Whether analysis to be done by Superior Court in considering application to homologate (or annul) private arbitration award is similar to analysis in administrative law as set out in judgment of Court of Appeal — Whether arbitrator in this case breached audi alteram partem rule to detriment of BCI, such that Superior Court should have annulled award.

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.

On January 22, 2021, an arbitration award was issued with regard to claims made by the respondent, Lambert Somec inc. (“LSI”), against the applicant, Broccolini Construction Inc./Construction Broccolini inc. (“BCI”), a general contractor. LSI applied for the homologation of the arbitration award, while BCI sought to have it annulled, alleging a breach of the rules of natural justice.

The Superior Court allowed the application to homologate the arbitration award and dismissed the application to annul the award. In its view, the decisions made by the arbitrator and the references to certain documents in the award were not breaches of the rules of natural justice. The Court of Appeal dismissed the motion for leave to appeal, finding that the questions raised did not go sufficiently beyond the parties’ sole interests.