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ARTICLE · 07 FEBRUARY 2014

This Week At The SCC (31/01/14)

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The Supreme Court of Canada this week released two judgments of interest to Canadian businesses and professions, the first dealing with the scope of the "unlawful means" required to ground the tort of interference with economic relations and the second addressing the permissable use of a pension surplus.

CanadaLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Kirsten Thompson
Kirsten Thompson
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The Supreme Court of Canada this week released two judgments of interest to Canadian businesses and professions, the first dealing with the scope of the "unlawful means" required to ground the tort of interference with economic relations and the second addressing the permissable use of a pension surplus.

InA.I. Enterprises Ltd. v. Bram Enterprises Ltd., 2014 SCC 12, the Supreme Court brought some clarity to the so-called "unlawful means" tort, affirming a narrow definition of "unlawful means". There has been an ongoing debate in Canada as to whether "unlawful means" encompassed any act without legal justification or only independently actionable wrongs.

In this case, a syndication of family members elected to sell an apartment building. The proposed sale triggered a right of first refusal at an appraised value for a dissenting family member. The dissenting family member declined, but then took steps to prevent the sale of the building to a third party. The

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