SUPREME COURT OF NOVA SCOTIA
Citation: Maritime Travel Inc. v. Boyle, 2012 NSSC 428
Date: 20121211
Docket: Hfx. No. 312635
Registry: Halifax
Between:
Maritime Travel Inc.
Plaintiff
v.
Hugh Boyle
Defendant
LIBRARY HEADING
Judge: The Honourable Justice A. David MacAdam
Heard: September 17, 18, 19, 20, 2012, in Halifax, Nova Scotia
Final Written
Submissions: September 7, 2012
Subject: contracts; agency; implied agency; agency by estoppel
Summary: In an earlier proceeding, the plaintiff obtained a judgement in damages against a company, G, of which the defendant was chairman and director. On a motion by G for a stay of execution of the judgment pending an appeal by G, the defendant agreed to personally pay into trust with the defendant=s solicitor the sum of $100,000, to be followed several months later by a second payment, sufficient to cover the remainder of the judgment, assuming the Court of Appeal had not yet decided. The parties agreed to a consent order staying execution of the judgment. The defendant paid the first instalment from his personal funds, but denied that he had agreed to pay the second instalment from his personal funds. He denied that the solicitor for his company, who had negotiated the stay agreement in consultation with the defendant himself, had authority to also commit him to make the second payment.
Issue: Did the defendant agree to pay the second instalment from his personal funds?
Result: The evidence established that, in addition to acting as solicitor for the company, the solicitor was acting as agent for the defendant when the stay agreement was negotiated. The defendant did not deny that he had agreed to the first payment. The court held that the defendant had agreed to make the second payment from his personal funds, either on the basis of implied agency or agency by estoppel.
THIS INFORMATION SHEET DOES NOT FORM PART OF THE COURT'S DECISION. QUOTES MUST BE FROM THE DECISION, NOT THIS LIBRARY SHEET.