
Legal Blog
Role Reversal Appeal
We discussed the case of Re Fields, a 2002 decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, in our newsletter of February 2003.
The case came up in the context of, and had some interesting twists relating to, bankruptcy, but the key issue for determination related to the interpretation of section 2.6 of the Ontario Execution Act. That section provides that a sheriff cannot seize a motor vehicle to pay a judgment debt if the vehicle has a value that is less than $5,000. On the assumption that a vehicle worth more than $5,000 is seized, the issue in this case was whether the debtor receives the first $5,000 of the value and the creditors get the rest or whether the creditors receive all of the sale value of the vehicle.
The Registrar in Bankruptcy ruled that the Execution Act meant what it said: jalopies worth less than $5,000 were untouchable, but vehicles exceeding $5,000 were fair game without the first $5,000 going to the debtor. The Bankruptcy judge on appeal agreed. Finally, in a 2004 decision, the Ontario Court of Appeal has also agreed.
The parties went through three levels of courts fighting over a car that was worth $11,000.