ONTARIO – Interlocutory Injunctions – Contracts – Sale of Software Solutions Business – Restrictive Covenants – Where a seller of a business commenced a competing business in breach of a non-competition provision, the Court held the covenant to be reasonable in the circumstances. The RJR-MacDonald test for interlocutory injunctions was met and the interlocutory injunction was granted.

ONTARIO – Arbitration – Recognition and Enforcement of Award under ICAA, 2017 and UNCITRAL Model Law, Art. 36(1) – The refusal of a Chinese Arbitral Tribunal to permit appraisal evidence after the evidence portion of the arbitration was completed was not a basis to refuse recognition and enforcement of the Arbitral Award in Ontario. The Arbitral Tribunal’s decision about procedural matters was entitled to deference.

ALBERTA – Arbitration – Jurisdiction – Despite the competence-competence principle, courts may resolve a challenge to an arbitrator’s jurisdiction where it involves pure questions of law or questions of mixed fact and law that only require a superficial consideration of the evidence. Where there is a real prospect that referring a bona fide challenge to jurisdiction to the arbitrator would result in the challenge never being resolved, the court may resolve the issue.

ALBERTA – Agreement of Purchase and Sale – Real Estate – For a real estate contract to be valid, there must be offer and acceptance, and a “meeting of the minds” about the essential terms of identification of the parties, the property and the price. The Statute of Frauds requires an agreement for the sale of land to be in writing and signed by the party to be charged.

ONTARIO – Limitations – The clock begins to tick when the plaintiff has actual knowledge of the material facts that give rise to a claim or when it ought to have known of those facts through reasonable due diligence. The level of actual or constructive knowledge needed is more than mere suspicion or speculation but less than perfect knowledge of liability.

ONTARIO – Corporations – In the absence of a signed Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) and corporate records, the court shall consider other evidence of the contract such as testimony of the professionals retained to complete the transition and the parties’ conduct after the transaction to establish an implied contract or de facto contract on the terms of the unsigned SPA.