Supplier May Recover Against The General Contractor Based Upon A Promise Not To Register A Construction Lien

The Alberta Court of Appeal has recently decided an interesting issue relating to the right of a supplier to a subcontractor to enforce payment against the general contractor. The supplier alleged that the contractor had promised to pay it in exchange for the supplier’s agreement not to register a construction or builder’s lien. In Sherwood Steel Ltd. v. Odyssey Construction Inc., the Court of Appeal held that such a claim is enforceable and is not barred by res judicata, merger or abuse of process.

Background

Sherwood was a supplier to the subcontractor, Edmonton Concrete. It obtained judgement against Edmonton Concrete and was not paid. Sherwood then sued the contractor, Odyssey, alleging that Odyssey had promised to pay Sherwood if Sherwood did not register a builder’s lien. Odyssey moved for summary judgment on the basis that any such claim was barred by the fact that Sherwood had already obtained judgment against Edmonton Concrete and that its cause of action “merged” in that judgment and could no longer be asserted. The motion judgment agreed and dismissed the action.

Alberta Court of Appeal’s decision

The Alberta Court of Appeal allowed the appeal on three grounds.

First, since Odyssey was not a party to the first action against Edmonton Concrete, and was not privy to Edmonton Concrete, the basic principles of res judicata did not apply.

Second, the claim by Sherwood against Odyssey was not based on the same cause of action. Sherwood’s claim against Edmonton Concrete was based upon a contract between that company and Sherwood. Sherwood’s claim against Odyssey was based upon an entirely different contract between Odyssey and Sherwood.

Third, Sherwood’s claim was not barred as an abuse of process.   Odyssey argued that Sherwood’s claim against it would lead to double recovery. The Court of Appeal said that this would depend upon the proper interpretation of the contract between Sherwood and Odyssey. If the contract was to pay the indebtedness only to the extent that Edmonton Concrete did not pay, then no double recovery would arise.

The Court of Appeal held that, even if Sherwood’s claim against Odyssey was a separate cause of action not affected by recovery against Edmonton Concrete, this would not support the dismissal of Sherwood’s claim as an abuse of process. It said:

“It is not the law that parties are precluded from obtaining two separate judgments for the same loss. For example, the general rule is that there is no bar to a creditor bringing separate actions against both the debtor and guarantors….This is a particularly apt analogy here, given Edmonton Concrete’s financial difficulties which left Sherwood Steel looking to file a builder’s lien against title to the project lands. Just as it is no abuse of process for a creditor to obtain judgment on the debt and then sue on the guarantee, it is no abuse of process for Sherwood Steel to obtain judgment against Edmonton Concrete and then, not having received satisfaction, sue Odyssey on its alleged promise to pay. While their obligations may (again, depending on the interpretation of the contract between Sherwood Steel and Odyssey) be co-extensive, they are each separate and distinct, and as such may be asserted in different actions.”

The Court of Appeal also held that the fact that the damages were identical in each claim was not a bar to the second action. It said that “Our civil procedure permits multiple suits for the same damage” and continued:

“Contractors, architects and engineers who caused the same damage through separate breaches of separate contracts can be sued separately. Owners of motor vehicles can be sued separately from the operator for the same damage. Where all potential defendants are known from the outset (which would not have been the case on the facts alleged here, since Odyssey’s breach is said to have occurred only after Sherwood Steel obtained judgment against Edmonton Concrete), separate actions for the same loss are obviously an inefficient use of litigants’ and court resources. But that can be addressed under rule 3.72 of the Rules of Court (“Consolidation or Separation of Claims and Actions”). The point is that the mere fact of multiple potential judgments for the same loss does not denote an abuse of process, or even a potential abuse of process.”

The Court of Appeal went on to hold that the trial court had ample procedural mechanism to avoid double recovery, in particular by crafting the final judgment to ensure that that did not occur. However, it warned against the court being too cautious about fully awarding judgments to Sherwood. Rather, double recovery could be dealt with during the judgment enforcement process or by the judgment debtors dealing with the problem between themselves:

“I see no impediment in contract law to dividing liability between two parties who have breached two different contracts, causing the same damages to a plaintiff. Indeed, those avenues of recourse for Odyssey make it preferable that a specific, unconditional judgment for the full amount of the award be stated on the order. In other words, civil enforcement, whether by way of contribution between judgment debtors or set-off as between a judgment debtor and its judgment creditor, is a better route for avoiding over-compensation than adding contingent language to an order.”

Discussion

Lawsuits arising from construction projects can be numerous and complicated. They may run into various rules or doctrines designed to avoid multiplicity of proceedings. But ultimately the court must look through the whole process and do what’s fair and not allow the doctrines to get in the way.

When suppliers and subcontractors are unpaid, then there must be very good reason before court procedural rules bar their claims. In this case, the Alberta Court of Appeal was not prepared to allow those rules to stand in the way of a trial of the merits of the claim.

Interestingly, the Court of Appeal had no concern about Sherwood giving up its claim for a builder’s lien in entering into the contract with the contractor. The supplier agreed not to exercise a statutory right, and one which was against the owner. Yet, the court considered that agreement to be good consideration for the contract with the contractor. That result seems appropriate since the filing of a lien would likely have had a negative effect on the contractor in the form of additional holdbacks by the owner.

See Heintzman and Goldsmith on Canadian Building Contracts, 5th ed., chapter 16

Sherwood Steel Ltd. v. Odyssey Construction Inc., 2014 CarswellAlta 1750, 2014 ABCA 320

Construction and Builder’s liens  –  Merger  –  Res judicata  –  Abuse of process

Thomas G. Heintzman O.C., Q.C., FCIArb                                               February 18, 2015

www.heintzmanadr.com

www.constructionlawcanada.com

 

 

 

 

 

Mary Carter Decision Upheld By The Supreme Court Of Canada

In my article of April 2011, I reported about the decision in Aecon Buildings v. Stephenson Engineering Limited.  In that decision, the Ontario Court of Appeal stayed an owner’s claim because of the non-disclosure of a Mary Carter agreement. The Supreme Court of Canada has recently dismissed an application for leave to appeal from that decision.  Accordingly, the ruling by the Court of Appeal will stand as good law across Canada on this issue.

Background to the Supreme Court’s Decision:

The City of Brampton had been sued by Aecon.  The City then sued the consultant, blaming it for the problem giving rise to Aecon’s claim. In turn, the consultant claimed over against the sub-consultant.

Before instituting its claim against the consultant, the City had effectively settled the claim against it by Aecon.  This sort of settlement, in which the settling parties continue as parties to the action, is known as a Mary Carter agreement.  The City did not disclose to the consultant that it had previously settled with Aecon. The City proceeded with its claim over against the consultant within the context of an apparently continuing claim against it by Aecon. The settlement agreement was only disclosed when it was discovered by the consultant who then demanded that it be produced.

The Ontario Court of Appeal held that the non-disclosure of the settlement agreement was an abuse of process and stayed the City’s claim against the consultant.  As a consequence, the claim by the consultant against the sub-consultant was also stayed.

The City of Brampton sought leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada from the decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal.  On June 30, 2011, the Supreme Court dismissed the application.  As is usual, the Supreme Court gave no reason for its decision.

However, this is one of the rare occasions in which the reasoning of the Supreme Court can be discerned.  That is because of a decision which the Court released on June 23, 2011:  Aecon Buildings, a Division of Aecon Construction Group Inc. v. Stephenson Engineering Limited, 2011 SCC 33.

In that decision, a panel of the Court denied a motion of the City to admit further evidence about the importance of the proposed appeal.  The City wanted that evidence before the Court due to a requirement in section 43 of the Supreme Court of Canada Act that any application for leave to appeal in a civil case must demonstrate that the proposed appeal raises a matter of public importance.

The City’s proposed evidence consisted of a number of articles written about the Court of Appeal’s decision.  In those articles, the authors spoke about the importance of that decision to the ongoing conduct of actions in which Mary Carter agreements are made.  However, the Supreme Court held that the articles did not address an issue of real importance.  It said: “Here, however, the issues are straightforward.  Must the Mary Carter-type agreement be disclosed immediately and if it isn’t what are the consequences?”

Justice Binnie answers the “importance” question:

Justice Binnie was a member of the panel and wrote the decision denying leave to admit this further evidence on the application.  He answered the “importance” question as follows:

“I think “immediate disclosure” is self-explanatory.  Its application in a particular case will be fact dependent.  Here, as stated, the applicant never did volunteer disclosure of the existence of the agreement to the parties or to the court. The Court of Appeal decided that in the circumstances a stay of proceedings was warranted.  The procedural point about how a party goes about disclosing the existence of such an agreement to the court (were they to decide to do so) is not something that raises a legal issue of public importance for this Court.”

As a further indication of the narrowness of the issue sought to be raised in its Court, the panel further observed:

“Nobody expresses any doubt that the rule stated by the Court of Appeal is consistent with its past authority, or suggests that the remedy for abuse of process was not, as a matter of law, available.”

While the panel of the Court said that “whether the rule itself raises a legal question of public importance is for the leave panel to decide,” the die had been cast in the Court’s decision on the motion to admit further evidence.  The court’s decision to dismiss the application for leave to appeal was a predictable result of the Court’s view of the narrowness and lack of importance of the issue.

As a result, the comments in my article of April 3, 2011 are now under-lined:

“This decision is a reminder of the drastic remedies available to the Courts if litigation is conducted unfairly” and the parties must be scrupulous to ensure that Mary Carter and other similar agreements affecting the conduct of litigation are immediately disclosed.

The irony, of course, is that the settlement of disputes is itself of public value, especially in the field of construction law.  Settlements allow the parties to reduce their risks and avoid the expenditure of money on litigation, and they save the public resources spent on courts.  Construction disputes frequently arise from good faith differences of opinion about the meaning of building contacts and about events during tenders and on the job site.  These differences are part of the cost of doing business and the parties owe it to themselves to make every reasonable effort to settle and not prolong their differences.

But if they do settle, then they owe a duty to the court system to disclose the settlement.  Otherwise, the justice system cannot properly function.  Since the judge has no independent power or authority to inquire into the events, the justice system depends upon the adversarial system to arrive at the just result.  If some of the apparent adversaries are no longer true adversaries, then that fact must be disclosed to the court.

Construction Law – Settlement – Agreement – Litigation – Champertous – Abuse of Process:

Aecon Buildings, A Division of Aecon Construction Group Inc. v. Stephenson Engineering Limited (SCC Judgments in Leave Applications, June 30, 2011, No. 34112)

Thomas G. Heintzman, O.C., Q.C.                                                                                                                           September 25, 2011

Who Knew That Mary Carter Was Involved In Construction Law?

In Aecon Buildings v. Stephenson Engineering Limited, the Ontario Court of Appeal recently dismissed a construction law claim because a Mary Carter agreement was not immediately disclosed.

A Mary Carter agreement is a settlement agreement between a plaintiff and defendant in which the defendant remains an active party to the litigation and the claim also proceeds against other parties.  Since the defendant continues to participate in the action, the appearance is conveyed that the defendant is still liable to the plaintiff, contrary to the reality of the settlement.  For this reason courts have always insisted that a Mary Carter agreement be immediately disclosed to all parties.  But what happens if it isn’t?  The Ontario Court of Appeal faced that situation in this case.

The general contractor, Aecon, sued the owner, the City of Brampton, for damages due to the delay in the construction project.  The City blamed the consultant for the delay.  The consultant blamed the sub-consultants.

Before the action was commenced, Aecon and the City settled Aecon‘s claim on the basis that Aecon would only recover from the City the amount that the City recovered from the consultant.

While the settlement was effectively made before the action was commenced by Aecon against the City, it was reduced to writing the day after that action was commenced.  Once the action was commenced, the City claimed over against the consultant and the consultant claimed over against the sub-consultants.

Aecon and the City remained active parties in the litigation, but the settlement agreement was not immediately disclosed to the consultant or sub-consultants who only discovered it later through other sources and demanded that it be produced.

The Court of Appeal held that the delay in the disclosure of the settlement agreement amounted to an abuse of process, even though the disclosure did occur before the affected parties were required to plead.  The agreement had only been produced several months after its existence was discovered by the consultants and when it was specifically requested.

The Court said that the only way for it to control its own process, in order to ensure that Mary Carter agreements are immediately produced, was to dismiss the City’s claim against the consultant and thereby the further claims by the consultant against the sub-consultants.  Permitting the litigation to proceed without disclosure of the agreement rendered “the process a sham and amounts to a failure of justice” in the Court’s view.

This decision is a reminder of the drastic remedies available to the Courts if litigation is conducted unfairly.  While Mary Carter agreements are most often used in personal injury or medical malpractice actions, they can also be used to settle construction litigation.  When they are, the parties must be scrupulous to ensure that the agreement is immediately disclosed.  Otherwise, any further claims in the action may well be dismissed.

Aecon Buildings v. Stephenson Engineering Limited, 2010 ONCA 898 (CanLII)   

Construction Law – Claims – SettlementAgreement – Litigation – Champertous – Abuse of ProcessMotion

www.constructionlawcanada.com                                                    April 3, 2011