Court Of Appeal Holds That Partial Summary Judgment Should Be Rarely Awarded

In a recent decision, the Ontario Court of Appeal set aside a partial summary judgment for fraud.

The Court held that partial summary judgment should only be granted where the motion judge is satisfied that the issues being resolved on partial summary judgment can be readily bifurcated from the issues proceeding to trial. 

The plaintiff corporations, Service Mold + Aerospace Inc., and SMI Ventilation Products, commenced an action against their former bookkeeper and the Toronto Dominion Bank ("TD") for fraud.

The plaintiffs alleged that their bookkeeper defrauded them in two ways: (1) she used forged cheques (the "Cheque Fraud"), and (2) she made additional unauthorized payroll payments into her bank account (the "Payroll Fraud").