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ARTICLE · 22 NOVEMBER 2011

Special Relationships May Not Be So Special

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The Ontario Court of Appeal's decision in "Krawchuk v Scherbak" provides a helpful reminder of how the elements of a claim for negligent misrepresentation are established.

CanadaLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Jeffrey Levine
Jeffrey Levine
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The Ontario Court of Appeal's decision in Krawchuk v Scherbak1 provides a helpful reminder of how the elements of a claim for negligent misrepresentation are established.

Background

Zoriana Krawchuk bought a house from the Scherbaks. Wendy Weddell acted as agent for both parties in the transaction. After the transaction closed, Ms. Krawchuk discovered significant latent defects in the property. It cost Ms. Krawchuk more to repair the defects than she had paid for the house. She sued the Scherbaks and Ms. Weddell for negligence, and the Scherbaks and Ms. Weddell cross-claimed against each other for contribution and indemnity.

The trial judge found that the Scherbaks negligently misrepresented the condition of the property in a form they filled out and provided to Ms. Krawchuk called the seller property information sheet ("SPIS"). Ms. Krawchuk was awarded damages for the cost of repairs to the property. However, the trial judge dismissed Ms. Krawchuk's claim

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