Legal Blog

Deceit

We have already stated that a just case will fail, if it does not pass the smell test. Another case illustrating this proposition is Hospitality Investments Ltd. v. Everett Lord Building Construction Ltd., a 1996 decision of the Supreme Court of Canada. In this case, the owner actively lied to City officials. He represented that he was using an architect, when he was not. To make matters worse, the owner used an incompetent contractor.  After the building was completed and all of the deficiencies emerged, the owner had the audacity to sue the City for issuing a building permit based on his own inadequate drawings. The owner argued that his deceit should be relevant only on the issue of contributory negligence, but should not deprive the owner of the whole award to which he would have been entitled as a result of the City’s negligence. Not surprisingly, the court did not buy this argument and consequently gave the owner nothing.