In Jackson v. Rosenberg, 2024 ONCA 875, The Ontario Court of Appeal revisited a key concept in Ontario property law: the joint tenancy, and how it is distinguished from from a tenancy in common. The Appellant was the great-niece of the Respondent’s romantic partner. In or around 2012, The Respondent conveyed a 50% joint tenancy in his primary residence to the Appellant through a gratuitous transfer. The Respondent’s evidence was that this transfer was made so that title of his house could pass to the Respondent upon his death without needing to pay probate fees. In or around 2020, the Respondent became concerned that the Appellant was going to use the joint tenancy the Respondent had conveyed to in 2012 to force him out of his home. The Respondent engaged a lawyer to convert the Respondent’s joint tenancy interest into a tenancy in common. The Appellant commenced an appeal … Read More
To Sue or Not to Sue? Failure to Sue = No Compensation
In Griffiths v. Zambosco, 2001 CanLII 24097 (ON CA), the Ontario Court of Appeal (“ONCA”) concluded that failure to sue is a bar to recovery of any compensation, even if the party to a lawsuit may otherwise have been entitled to compensation had she sued. In this case the Plaintiff sued the Appellant for negligence in respect of a vendor take back mortgage to the Plaintiff and his then-wife. The Plaintiff’s ex-wife refused to join the proceeding as a plaintiff and so the Plaintiff added her as a defendant. The trial judge found that the Appellant was negligent and awarded damages of close to $300,000 to both the Plaintiff and his ex-wife (almost $150,000 each). On appeal, the ONCA agreed with the trial judge that the Appellant owed a duty of care to both the Plaintiff and to the Plaintiff’s ex-wife. However, the ONCA did not agree with the trial … Read More