Legal Blog

Knowing Receipt of Breach of Trust Proceeds

Vancouver Coastal Health Authority v Moscipan 2019 BCCA

Wife stole money from employer. Husband, who did not work outside the home, was suspicious about all of the money that wife was bringing home, but never investigated. The court held that husband was liable for knowing receipt of funds in breach of trust, which has a lesser threshold than knowing assistance in a breach of trust. However, husband was not liable for the full amount wife embezzled, only the money that went directly for his benefit. The employer was able to prove that $130,000 of its money was paid to the credit of husband’s Visa and husband was held liable for it. Wife had also transferred her interest in the matrimonial home to husband and her as joint tenants, just as the fraud was being uncovered and knowing she had been diagnosed with a terminal illness. The court held that this conveyance was fraudulent. Husband had alleged that half of the property had always been held in trust for him. The court disagreed and, in any case, noted that, even if husband beneficially owned half of the house, a transfer of the other half of the house into joint tenancy could still be fraudulent.

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