Legal Blog

Arbitration Stay

Jencel 407 Yonge Street Inc. v. Bright Immigration Inc. 2021 Ont SCJ

A lease contained an arbitration clause. The defendant failed to pay rent and the landlord commenced an action and a summary judgment motion. The tenant claimed that the action ought to be stayed and dealt with by way of arbitration. Normally, a judge would have acceded to that request. However, section 7(2) of the Act gives a judge discretion to refuse to stay an action if “the matter is a proper one for …. summary judgment.” In this case, the court held that summary judgment was appropriate and granted judgment in favour of the landlord.

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