
Legal Blog
Warranty and Setoff
IET International Energy Technologies Canada Ltd v. M&R Property Management Limited 2020 Ont SCJ
Electrical contractor sued a building manager for work that the contractor had performed on various buildings that the building manager managed. The building manager complained that some of the contractor’s work was deficient and therefore the cost to complete those deficiencies should be deducted from the amount otherwise owed to the contractor. The judge accepted the contractor’s evidence that (i) it provided a warranty for its work; (ii) it always honoured its warranty obligations; (iii) minor problems always arose on jobs and were always fixed; and (iv) it was never told of any of the complaints referenced in the setoff allegations. The judge held that it was incumbent upon the manager to ask the contractor to honour its warranty obligations before using other electrical contractors to do the work and that, had the contractor been asked, it would have attended to fix the problems. The judge refused to allow the setoff claims.
![]()
Written by Jonathan Speigel, the founding partner of Speigel Nichols Fox LLP, leads the litigation and construction practices. |