- Parties: The appellants were Irving Ebert, Richard Herman, and P. Phillippe Desrosiers. The respondent was His Majesty the King.

- Subject Matter: The appellants moved to strike assumptions in the Crown’s replies under the Tax Court of Canada Rules (General Procedure), SOR/90-688a. The Tax Court partly allowed the motion and struck out some of the assumptions with leave to amend. The appellants challenged the Tax Court’s interlocutory order declining to strike the following assumption: “The fair market value of the wines donated by the Appellant and appraised by Nico van Duyvenbode was at most 20% (i.e., a ratio of 1/5) of the amount stated on the charitable tax receipts[.]”

- Ruling: The appeal court ruled in the respondent’s favour and dismissed the appeal. The appeal court noted that the Tax Court’s decision not to strike this assumption was discretionary. The appeal court held that the appellants failed to establish that the Tax Court made a palpable and overriding error in declining to strike the assumption. The appeal court found that it was not “plain and obvious” that the assumption should be struck. It could not be said that the assumption, if taken to be true, did not provide a reasonable basis for the reassessment, the appeal court added.

- Date: The hearing was set on Feb. 8, 2024. The court released its decision on Feb. 8, 2024.

- Venue: This was a federal case before the Federal Court of Appeal.

- Amount: The court fixed costs at $3,000, all-inclusive.