Legal Blog

Arbitration Agreement

2832402 Ontario Inc. v. 2853463 Ontario Ltd. 2022 Ont SCJ

Parties stipulated that if they could not agree on price adjustments in a final closing statement, the dispute would be referred to a specified accountant for a decision. The vendor commenced a court application to force the purchaser to provide better backup documents for its calculations. The purchaser moved to stay the application on grounds that the dispute resolution was an arbitration and only the arbitrator could decide on documents to be produced. The court agreed that the parties’ agreement was an arbitration agreement, regardless that the word arbitration was never found in it. It was not merely a request for the accountant’s expert opinion. The judge stayed the application.

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