Legal Blog

Breach of Trust

Gurkal Transport v. Gittani 2019 Ont SCJ

The issue was whether wife could be liable pursuant to section 13(1) of the Construction Act for breach of the deemed trust by the contractor that husband owned. The court held wife liable because she was an officer of the contractor, had worked for the contractor on a part-time basis for 20 years, dealt with financial aspects, was the bookkeeper, was in charge of accounts receivable and accounts payable, wrote the cheques, and dealt with subcontractors seeking payment of their accounts. Further, she had loaned the contractor over $270,000 at the time of the breach of trust and therefore knew that the contractor was in financial trouble.

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