Civil Practice and Procedure - Disposition without trial - Settlement
Legacy trust was established in 1993 for settlor's two daughters, DC and DM. DC and her husband JC lived at residence owned by trust at time of DC's death in 2017. DC's son was trustee, and upon DC's death beneficiaries were DC's two sons and DM's daughter. Later in 2017, JC moved out of property and beneficiaries decided to renovate property which had fallen into state of disrepair. JC brought application against trustee and beneficiaries seeking interest in property by way of constructive or resulting trust. Beneficiaries claimed they came to agreement with JC that he would abandon his application without costs. Beneficiaries brought motion to enforce settlement agreement. Motion granted. Based on email exchanges between counsel, mutual intention between parties was proven and legally binding contract was objectively established. Principal of finality dictated that settlements entered into with assistance of legal counsel be upheld.
Cox v. Baker (2019), 2019 CarswellOnt 7581, 2019 ONSC 2859, Dietrich J. (Ont. S.C.J.).
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