Legal Blog

CPL

Kirubakaran v. Tiller 2020 Ont SCJ

A motion for a certificate of pending litigation (CPL) is often brought without notice – usually for the reason that, if notice is given, the landowner will do something with the land and frustrate the motion. It is a one-sided motion and the court has to rely on the moving party to set out all of the relevant facts. Accordingly, a CPL may be vacated if its issuance came about pursuant to material non-disclosure, which would be an abuse of the court’s process. In this case, the plaintiff alleged that property was being held in trust for him pursuant to an undocumented transaction. On the motion to set aside the CPL, it became apparent that there were documents and that these documents, on their face, contradicted the plaintiff’s assertion of a trust. The judge set aside the CPL for non-disclosure of material facts.

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