Our Work

Simon Bieber and David Ionis successfully appealed a trial judgment arising from a failed residential real estate purchase in the Bridle Path area of Toronto. They obtained an order vacating the dismissal of our client's third-party claim against the respondent real estate agent and directing that a new trial be held before a different judge. 

The appellants had retained a real estate agent to purchase a high-value property and entered into an unconditional agreement of purchase and sale requiring a $350,000 deposit. After the deal fell through and the vendors sued, the appellants settled and brought a third-party claim against their former real estate agent for negligence and breach of fiduciary duty.

The Court of Appeal accepted our submission that, in dismissing the claim, the trial judge committed a reversible error. The trial judge stopped the analysis after finding that the real estate agent had not actively misled the appellants, thereby failing to address their broader allegations of negligence — including the agent’s admitted failure to advise the appellants of the consequences of their unconditional offer, his failure to correct the appellants’ misapprehension of the consequences of not paying the deposit, and his active lying to the vendors about the status of the transaction. The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, set aside the trial judgment and cost order, and ordered a new trial before a different judge.