Guttin: A Reminder Not To Overreach

Litigants sometimes believe they must allege maximal goals if they are going to achieve their actual objective. If you needed a fresh caution against overreaching, the costs ruling in Guttin v. Creber, 2026 ONSC 4507, delivers it. After an oppression dispute involving B‑Con Engineering Inc. and BCE Realty Ltd., the Ontario Superior Court fixed costs against the notionally successful applicants. This was because, despite the applicants’ limited success on disclosure and sale‑process issues, their big‑ticket allegations and remedies did not land.

The dispute produced mixed results on the merits. The court found that respondent unfairly disregarded applicant’s rights regarding timely disclosure of corporate financial information. But the court declined to appoint a receiver‑manager and instead issued targeted directions for the sale of the property at issue, including disclosure obligations, a right to use buy‑sell provisions, and a distribution waterfall for sale proceeds. The parties