Legal Blog

Liability for Caution

225753 Ontario Inc. v. Mifsud and Hunt, 2023 Ont SCJ

Mortgagee was selling a property in the exercise of its power of sale. Lawyer acted for a person who was not the owner of the property, but seemingly had some other claim to the property. Lawyer registered a caution. Mortgagee alleged that the caution prevented the mortgagee from closing its sale of the property and sued the lawyer and the claimant under s. 132 of the Land Titles Act. That section makes a person who registers a caution without reasonable cause liable for any damages the caution causes. The judge held that “person” in the section was a claimant, not the lawyer who registers a caution on behalf of a client.

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