Legal Blog

Agency – Inducing Breach of Contract – Summary Judgment

Maggiacomo v. Yumusak 2018 Ont SCJ

Son paid $100,000 as a deposit for the purchase of his first house. Father planned to sell his house to help son with the financing for the son’s house. Father’s sale did not take place because of a drop in real estate values. Accordingly, son defaulted in his purchase. His vendor claimed the $100,000 deposit and sued for additional damages against both son and father. The vendor acknowledged that neither father nor son had made pre-agreement representations that son was acting as father’s agent, but still claimed that son was the agent of father and claimed that, additionally, father induced son to breach his contract with the vendor. The judge dismissed the action by way of summary judgment. Father’s actions fell well short of what would be required to imply agency and father never intended to cause son to breach his contract. He was simply unable to provide the financing he had hoped to provide.

Written by Jonathan Speigel, the founding partner of Speigel Nichols Fox LLP, leads the litigation and construction practices.