Our client, an equal shareholder of an enterprise which owned auto dealerships and commercial real estate, was oppressed by the actions of his business partner after 10 years of working together. Among other matters, the other partner embarked on a clandestine plan to move one of the dealerships to a larger property and purchased the property on his own. Our client believed that his partner sought to squeeze our client out of the business so he could run it with other members of his family. Before our involvement, our client sold his interest in the business to his partner.
For various disputed reasons, the share sale did not close but after the anticipated closing date, our client’s business partner operated the business as if he were the owner. Our client’s partner even discontinued payments and financial disclosure to our client and to others who had trust interests in the business. As a result of our advocacy in the course of hotly-contested litigation, our client and the other trust beneficiaries eventually recovered interim payments of more than $400,000 and were provided with full disclosure of the financial affairs of the businesses. We also managed litigation involving millions of dollars, dozens of court appearances, expert witnesses and many days of examinations for discovery and eventually, we brought the case to an all-party mediation. The mediation pitted various opposing interests, each of whom were determined not to give an inch. As experienced counsel, we worked through difficult situations but we did not lose sight of the objective of getting the most favourable resolution possible for our client. As a result, we negotiated a hard-won multi-million dollar mediated settlement for our client and a trial was avoided.
