De Cerigo Properties Inc., Studio Pyramid Inc., and Milosh Pavlovicz (Appellants) appealed the dismissal of their action against Christine Raffan (Respondent).
The Appellants sought $2 million in damages for negligence, fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, and intentional interference with economic relations, alleging Raffan manipulated financial records as Hippo Properties Inc.’s accountant.
Key Points:
The trial judge prematurely dismissed the action, disallowing the testimony of the Appellants’ accounting expert, Dr. Lawrence Rosen, due to an alleged lack of standard care analysis in his reports.
The Court of Appeal found this dismissal and the exclusion of Dr. Rosen’s testimony to be in error, determining his reports were indeed relevant to the Appellants' claims.
Outcome:
The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, set aside the trial judge’s dismissal of the action, and ordered a new trial before a different judge.
The Appellants were awarded $50,000 plus HST for appeal costs, with instructions for determining the trial costs if the parties could not agree.
