One York Street Inc. v. 2360083 Ontario Limited

Landlord wins · Toronto · 2023-08-24

Adjudicator

D.A. Wilson J.

Dispute

Breach of Conditions, Non-payment of Rent

Landlord

One York Street Inc.

Tenant

2360083 Ontario Limited, LCIL Ltd.

Landlord rep

Matthew Lerner, Jim Lepore

Tenant rep

Matthew Karabus, Luke Sabourin

What happened

The landlord, One York Street Inc., is suing the tenant, 2360083 Ontario Limited, and the indemnifier, LCIL Ltd., for damages due to alleged failure to pay rent and abandonment of a 20-year commercial lease after approximately 3 3/4 years. The defendants claim they were induced to sign the lease based on misrepresentations about expected foot traffic.

The ruling

The court ordered the production of the defendants' lawyer's file relating to the execution of the lease up to May 25, 2017, finding that the defendants waived solicitor-client privilege by pleading reliance on alleged misrepresentations. The court determined that fairness requires disclosure of the legal advice received at the time of lease execution to allow the plaintiff to test the reasonableness of the defendants' claimed reliance.