Legal Blog

Payment of Trust Money

Clearwater Structures v. 614128 Ontario Ltd. o/a Trisura Construction, 2021 Ont SCJ

Although the Construction Act does not provide a timeframe within which a contractor must pay trust funds, the court found that a contractor who has failed to turn over trust funds within a reasonable time will have breached its trust obligations. Since, in this case, the judge held that there was no valid set off (i.e. the costs of a bond and to post a bond to vacate a lien are not valid costs for setoff), there was no reason for the contractor not to have paid the trust funds.

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