Legal Blog

Unjust Enrichment

Sase Aggregate Ltd. v. Langdon 2023 Ont CA

Husband stole money from his employer. The employer sued wife claiming that the stolen money went into the renovations of wife’s house. The court found that the wife demonstrated that she used money from legitimate sources to fund the renovations and that there was therefore no unjust enrichment – other than about $177,000 for which wife could not account.  The court held that wife did not knowingly receive the fraudulent funds or knowingly assist husband in his fraudulent conduct. Although stolen money went into their joint account, it was immediately moved to third parties and wife knew nothing about the deposits or the transfers. For whatever reason, the employer was not able to trace where the funds ultimately went.

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