Legal Blog

Bankruptcy Discharge

RBC v. Kim 2020 Ont SCJ

s. 178(1)(e) of the BIA provides that a bankruptcy discharge does not release the bankrupt from debts resulting from obtaining property or services by false pretences or fraudulent misrepresentation. In this case, the bankrupt had provided a personal statement of affairs that set out incorrect facts. The court had to decide whether they were false representations and, if so, whether RBC relied on them. The judge found that the bankrupt, whom the judge disbelieved in every regard, knew that the representations were false and that the whole purpose of a statement of affairs was to be part of the loan approval process. The judge stated that the false representations were intentional and were the type of socially unacceptable conduct at which the section was aimed.

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