Torkin Manes is pleased to congratulate Doug Bourassa, partner in the firm’s Litigation & Dispute Resolution Group, whose successful appearance before the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”), with co-counsel Harvey Chaiton of Chaitons LLP, culminated in a remarkable victory in the recent groundbreaking decision released by the Court in Scott v. Golden Oaks Enterprises Inc. This case is a defining decision in the area of corporate attribution and deals with the complex issues arising from fraud in a one-man corporation in the context of a bankruptcy proceeding.
Doug was successful at the Court of Appeal in arguing that the corporation had no knowledge of the actions of its single employee/officer/director, notwithstanding the intuitive inference to the contrary. The SCC upheld this decision and agreed that the corporation was completely unaware of its own actions, and accordingly, the trustee in bankruptcy was entitled to recover substantial additional funds for the benefit of all creditors.