Arbitration Matters

September 12, 2022September 9, 2022

Québec – Annulment – No review of the merits and no reason to appeal – #658

Balabanyan v. Paradis, 2022 QCCA 877 is, hopefully, the last stage of this arbitration saga, which has come before the Court many times before. In a previous Case Note, Québec – Annulment – No review of the merits, even if award wrong #603, I reviewed how the Court dismissed each and every reason the Appellant raised against the arbitral award made against him. In her decision, Québec Superior Court Justice Harvie reaffirmed that courts have no jurisdiction to revisit the merits of an arbitral award or the arbitrator’s reasons and assessment of the evidence when a party is seeking homologation or annulment of an arbitral award. She also confirmed the strict scope of analysis of homologation/annulment grounds according to sections 645 and 646 CCP. In an ultimate attempt to annul the award made against him, the Appellant sought leave to appeal Justice Harvie’s decision. Firstly, the Court of Appeal took notice of Justice Harvie’s assessment that the Appellant acted in bad faith in the conduct of his proceedings: by seeking to “wear the opponent out of steam by a maze of procedures and ill-founded arguments”. This increased Appellant’s burden significantly and even more considering the fact that the Appellant’s application was out of time. The Court of Appeal dismissed the leave application because the Plaintiff did not demonstrate any reason to justify his demand.

September 8, 2022September 8, 2022

Québec – Arbitral award did not “apply” to court proceeding – #657

In Nour v Estephan, 2022 QCCS 2996, Justice Wery dismissed an action brought by the Plaintiff for damages for breach of an agreement with the Defendants, which set out the terms of his departure from their business acting as financial advisors. Confession: this is not an arbitration case, but don’t stop reading because there is an interesting little section on the precedential value in the Québec Superior Court of an arbitral award issued by a retired former justice of the Québec Court of Appeal, acting as arbitrator, in unrelated litigation brought in the courts.

September 7, 2022September 12, 2022

Québec – Stay of homologation application where parties disagreed on award’s meaning – #656

In Syndicate of co-owners of Quartier Urbain 3 v Habitations Bellagio Inc, 2022 BCCS 2445, the Applicant sought the homologation of an arbitral award dated October 28, 2021, which ordered the Respondent to carry out certain corrective work on the Applicant’s residential building. The parties disagreed upon the meaning of the award. Therefore, Justice Lussier stayed the homologation application for a short time to allow the parties to return to the Arbitrator to try to reach agreement on the meaning of the award. Because the Arbitrator was functus officio (presumably because the parties were too late to seek an interpretation of the award from the Arbitrator), she was not to participate in the meeting as arbitrator.

August 29, 2022August 29, 2022

Newfoundland and Labrador – Objections to litigation to be raised early (even if tentative) – #655

In 55668 Newfoundland and Labrador Limited v. Sullivan, 2022, NLSC 127, a franchisor-franchisee dispute arose between the parties. The Franchise Agreement contained an arbitration clause, however, the Plaintiffs proceeded by way of Statement of Claim. The Defendants did not take the position that the dispute was to be referred to arbitration in their original pleading, relying upon the Statement of Claim, which referred to conduct that occurred after the Franchise Agreement had been terminated. Later, the Plaintiffs corrected their pleading to provide that the impugned conduct occurred pre-termination. The parties disputed whether the arbitration clause terminated with the termination of the Franchise Agreement, and also whether the dispute fell within the scope of the arbitration clause. At trial, the Defendants argued that they had been prejudiced by the pleading amendment, which they asserted clearly gave them the right to arbitration. Justice Knickle held that, assuming the dispute fell within the terms of the arbitration clause, arbitration may have been the available option. However, the Defendants knew from the beginning of the litigation that the facts that were relevant to the dispute covered the period both before and after the termination; their failure to plead their right to arbitration in their Statement of Defence meant that they were out of time to object.

August 29, 2022August 29, 2022

Ontario – Arbitrator to determine jurisdiction/validity of arbitration clause in employment dispute – #654

In Irwin v. Protiviti, 2022 ONCA 533, the Ontario Court of Appeal confirmed that, unless the question is one of pure law or is a question of mixed fact and law requiring only a superficial review of the evidence, questions about the jurisdiction of an arbitrator are to be arbitrated. This includes whether an arbitration clause in an arbitration contract is void for unconscionability, or for inconsistency with the Employment Standards Act, 2000, S. O. 2000, c. 41 (“ESA”) or the Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H. 19 (“the Code”).

August 29, 2022August 29, 2022

Ontario – Failure to pay award does not justify security for costs – #653

In Amelin Resources, Inc. v. Victory Energy Operations LLC, 2022 ONSC 4514, Associate Justice C. Wiebe dismissed a motion for security for costs under Rule 56.01(1)(d) of the Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure, finding that Victory, the Defendant/Moving Party, did not meet its onus of showing that there was “good reason to believe” that Amelin, the Plaintiff/Responding Party, had insufficient assets to pay the Victory’s costs in Ontario. Amelin’s failure to pay amounts granted to Victory under an arbitration award and U.S. Court order did not suffice.

August 26, 2022August 19, 2022

Ontario – Arbitrator resignation did not terminate arbitration – #652

In Kubecka v Novakovic, 2022 ONSC 4503, Justice Pinto determined that, on the wording of the parties’ arbitration agreement, the parties had agreed that the arbitration was not terminated and their dispute returned to the jurisdiction of the courts – even when the arbitrator resigned. He appointed a replacement arbitrator on the application of one of the parties.

August 15, 2022August 15, 2022

Québec – Parallel proceedings insufficient to justify disregard of arbitration agreement – #651

In Travelers Insurance Company of Canada v Greyhound Canada Transportation, 2022 QCCQ 4746, Justice Davignon declined jurisdiction over part of a dispute – the Plaintiffs sued the Defendants for recovery of damages as a result of an explosion on their property; in a separate action, one Defendant sued the other to recover any damages it might be required to pay to the Plaintiffs, relying upon a warranty provision in the Defendants’ agreement (to which the Plaintiffs were not parties). That agreement contained both a forum selection and arbitration clause. Justice Davignon declined jurisdiction over the warranty claim. He was unmoved by the fact that this would result in the dispute being debated in two different forums – the court, in respect of the principal action, and arbitration, as to the warranty claim – and gave full effect to the arbitration clause in the agreement between the Defendants.

August 15, 2022August 15, 2022

Alberta – Why arbitration needs the courts – and vice versa – #650

In Benke v Loblaw Companies Limited, 2022 ABQB 461, Justice Feasby called for a “culture change” in the courts to “create an environment promoting timely and affordable access to the civil justice system” (quoting Justice Karakatsanis in Hyrniak v Mauldin, 2014 SCC 7 at para. 2) to avoid a “large-scale exodus” from the courts to arbitration. He took an expansive view of the court’s power to decide a case by summary trial as one way to move away from the conventional trial and solve the problem. He also commented on why we should not want all commercial disputes to be decided by arbitration.

August 15, 2022August 15, 2022

British Columbia – legal errors must reflect award’s actual reasons when read as a whole – #649

In The Fairways at Bear Mountain Resort Owners’ Association v Ecoasis Resort and Golf LLP, 2022 BCSC 1235, Justice Donegan considered the threshold question for granting leave to appeal a final award, which is whether the alleged errors were questions of law. In doing so she emphasized the importance of reading the award as a whole and considering what it was that the Arbitrator had actually decided. When that was done in this case, she concluded that neither of the two suggested grounds for appeal (both concerning the application of a limitation period) were questions of law alone but were, instead, questions of mixed fact and law that were based on the Arbitrator’s construction of the contract.