Case information

Administrative law — Appeals — Standard of review — Whether Court of Appeal erred in selecting standard of review — Sale of land — Requisitions — Valid objections to title— Whether motion judge erred in holding open building permit constituted valid objection to title

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 respondents, Fergus Bloor Inc. and Storekey Holdings Inc., are related corporations who agreed to purchase a commercial property from the applicant and paid a deposit. The respondents investigated the title of the property and discovered two open building permits. They could not obtain title insurance in relation to these permits and requisitioned their removal. The applicant told the respondents that it had removed both permits, but had in fact only removed one. The respondents discovered this, refused to close the transaction, sued for the return of their deposit, and moved for summary judgment.

The motion judge held that, in the circumstances of this case, the respondents were entitled to consider the open permit a cloud on title and exercise their contractual right not to close the transaction. The Court of Appeal applied a deferential standard of review, found no error in the motion judge’s approach, and dismissed the appeal.