Case information

Contracts – Arbitration agreement – Applicants entering into agreements requiring settlement of disputes by arbitration – Applicants commencing action, alleging breach of agreements, by way of statement of claim – Motion judge staying action in favour of arbitration – Whether lower courts erring in law by mischaracterizing claim as contractual rather than equitable – Whether s. 7(6) of Arbitration Act, 1991 violating open court principle and Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, s. 2(b), by precluding appellate review of stay decisions – Whether respondents’ procedural gamesmanship, including intentional delay and obstruction, rendering arbitration inoperable and unenforceable – Arbitration Act, 1991, S.O. 1991, c. 17, ss. 7(1), 7(6)

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.

Respondents Quintet Ventures Inc., Andrew Robinson, Adrian Robinson, 1160094 B.C Ltd. and 1161845 B.C. Ltd. brought a motion pursuant to s. 7(1) of the Arbitration Act, 1991, S.O. 1991, c. 17, for an order staying an action commenced by the applicants, Andrew Spasiw and Astute Ventures Ltd., in favour of arbitration.

The motion was granted. An appeal before a judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice was dismissed. A further appeal to the Court of Appeal for Ontario was dismissed.

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