Arbitration Appeal Rights: Think About Them Before Signing A Contract

Owners and contractors will normally insert an arbitration clause into their contract.  When they do so, they rarely consider their rights of appeal from an arbitral award.  The recent decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal in Kingsway Insurance Company v. Gore Mutual Insurance Company provides a good opportunity to develop a strategy towards appeal rights before signing a construction contract containing an arbitration clause.

Under the domestic Ontario Arbitration Act, an appeal of an arbitration award may be taken in two circumstances.  First, if the parties agree, then an appeal may be brought on a matter of law, fact or mixed fact and law.  Otherwise, an appeal may be brought on a matter of law with leave of the Superior Court.  In addition, of course, an application may be brought to set aside the award or for a declaration of the invalidity of the award.

In Kingsway, the Court of Appeal has held that leave to appeal is required before a further appeal may be taken from the Ontario Superior Court to the Court of Appeal for Ontario.  In arriving at this conclusion the Court resolved a statutory conflict.  Section 49 of he Ontario Arbitration Act states that leave to appeal is required from a decision of the Superior Court relating to an appeal to that Court of an arbitral award, or an application to set aside the award or a declaration of invalidity of the award.  However, section 6(1) (b) of the Ontario Courts of Justice Act states that an appeal lies to the Court of Appeal from a final decision of a judge of the Ontario Superior Court.

The Court of Appeal held that these two provisions are in direct conflict and that the conflict must be resolved in favour of the more specific provision in the Arbitration Act, being the Act which specifically governs domestic arbitrations in Ontario.

While Kingsway was not a construction law case, this ruling may be of importance to owners and contractors, particularly if they wish to preserve appeal rights relating to the arbitral decision.  Under Ontario law, the parties may include in their arbitration agreement a full appeal to the Superior Court on matters of law and fact.  If they do so, that is probably because they wish those issues to be dealt with by the Court in the usual way.  They may now be surprised to learn that the normal appeal route is not available to them, and that, despite their agreement and despite the normal situation in civil actions, they are only entitled, as of right, to one level of appeal.

The situation created by section 49 of the Ontario Arbitration Act may be contrasted with the Ontario International Commercial Arbitration Act (“ICAA”).  That Act applies to international arbitrations.  Like the ICAAs of virtually all the other provinces, the Ontario ICAA incorporates the New York UNCITRAL treaty provisions which do not countenance an appeal of the arbitral award.  Likewise, those provisions contain no provisions relating to an appeal from a decision of the Superior Court setting aside, or refusing to set aside, the award.  In these circumstances, the normal provisions of Section 6(1) (b) of the Ontario Courts of Justice Act presumably apply, as presumably would the comparable legislation in the other provinces.  Indeed, there are instances in which appeal courts in Canada have heard appeals from the provincial superior courts dealing with arbitrations under the ICAA statutes, without leave being granted.

Ironically, therefore, the ICAA statutes may allow for appeals as of right from a reviewing judge’s decision in circumstance in which no such appeal as of right exists under the domestic arbitration regime. That would be ironic since ICAA is generally considered to contain an “anti-appeal” regime.

A comparison of domestic arbitration statutes across Canada reveals a somewhat diverse regime with respect to appeals from decisions of reviewing judges.  The statutes in Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia generally provide a similar regime. They allow for an appeal from the arbitral award to the Superior Court with leave on a question of law (except in Nova Scotia).  They generally allow the parties to provide in the arbitration agreement for appeals without leave on matters of law, fact and mixed fact and law.  But they also generally provide that any further appeals from the reviewing or appeal decisions of the Superior Court to the Court of Appeal are only with leave.

British Columbia permits an appeal of the arbitral award to the British Columbia Supreme Court on a question of law either with leave or on consent, but does not deal with further appeals.

Newfoundland and Labrador does not expressly provide for appeals from arbitration awards and establishes no express limit on, and does not address, appeals from orders reviewing and setting aside, or refusing to review and set aside, arbitration awards.

The Prince Edward Island statute contains the novel provision, whereby if the parties provide for an appeal in the arbitration agreement, then the parties have the right to appeal directly from an arbitral award to the Appeal Division.

In these circumstances, owners and contractors who are entering into arbitration agreements should carefully consider their rights of appeal.  Perhaps, rights of appeal are the very last thing they want.  In this case they may wish to specifically state that there are to be no rights of appeal.  In some provinces (like Ontario), the parties can, in the arbitration agreement, entirely contract out of their right to an appeal even with leave, while in other provinces (like Manitoba) they cannot.

But the parties may wish to have full rights of appeal, particularly if there are serious issues of law at stake.  If so, they may want to stipulate that the arbitral law of a specific jurisdiction is to apply to their contract and select one which is the most appeal-friendly.  If this is the case, then Ontario arbitral law may have become less suitable to those parties and more suitable to parties wishing to restrict appeal rights following a hearing before the Superior Court.

See Goldsmith and Heintzman, Canadian Building Contracts (4th ed), Chapter 10

Construction Law – Arbitrations – Contract – Appeals – Civil Procedure

Kingsway Insurance Company v. Gore Mutual Insurance Company 2011 ONCA 87   https://bit.ly/jP4xi7

Thomas G. Heintzman

www.constructionlawcanada.com                                                                           May 24, 2011

Is A Subcontractor Bound By The Arbitration Clause in the Main Contract?

In a judgment delivered on May 6, 2011, Chief Justice Joseph P. Kennedy of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court dealt with a contentious issue relating to arbitration clauses in construction contracts.

Is an arbitration clause in the main contract between the owner and the contractor incorporated into a subcontract between the contractor and subcontractor?  If that incorporation occurs, then the subcontractor’s court claim must be stayed and the subcontractor must assert its claim by way of arbitration.

In Sunny Corner Enterprises Inc v. Dustex Corporation, the main contract contained an arbitration clause requiring that any dispute between the owner and contractor be arbitrated.  The subcontract was contained in a purchase order that stated that the scope of the work was to be as defined in the main contract.  The contractor argued that the purchase order sufficiently incorporated the terms of the main contract, and therefore the arbitration clause, into the subcontract.  The subcontractor acknowledged that the main contract was integral to the purchase order, but asserted that the purchase order did not specifically incorporate the arbitration clause from the main contract into the subcontract.

The Chief Justice held that the later is the proper statement of the law.  Referring to Goldsmith and Heintzman on Canadian Building Contracts (4thed), he held that an arbitration clause in the main contract will only be incorporated in the subcontract if it is specifically incorporated.  It was not sufficient to merely say in the subcontract that the main contract was an “integral” part of the subcontract.  As he pointed out, there may be many terms in the main contact which are irrelevant to the subcontractor.  He referred to an Alberta decision [Q.Q.R. Mechanical Contracting Ltd. v. Panther Controls Ltd., 2005 ABQB 58] in which a two year guarantee provision in the main contract was held not to have been incorporated into the subcontract.  Accordingly, Chief Justice Kennedy dismissed the motion to stay the action and permitted it to proceed.

There is logic and a lesson to be learned from this case. The parties to a subcontract may well intend to be bound by the conditions in the main contract relating to the actual nature and performance of the work.  After all, they need a common road map to get the project built that is consistent with the main contract.  But it is quite another thing for them to agree to be bound by consequential, remedial and procedural matters found in the main contract.  There is no inherent reason why the parties to the subcontract cannot agree to a different regime for those matters.  For a court to find that they made an agreement to be bound by the main contract about those matters, there should be specific provisions in the subcontract to that effect.

See Goldsmith and Heintzman:  Canadian Building Contracts (4thed) at Chapter 7, section 1 and Chapter 10, section 1.

Arbitration  – Construction Agreement –  Subcontract:

Sunny Corner Enterprises Inc v. Dustex Corporation, 2011 NSSC 172   https://bit.ly/kXG9Ck

Thomas G. Heintzman

https://www.constructionlawcanada.com

May 15, 2011

Tenders in Construction Projects – Which Limitation Period Applies?

What is the limitation period for the commencement of an action arising from a tender in a construction project?

If the owner is a municipality or other public body, does a limitation period in its incorporating legislation apply to the tender?  These were the questions recently faced by the Prince Edward Island Court of Appeal in Central Roadways v. City of Summerside.

In May 2008 the City of Summerside sought tenders for the resurfacing of city streets.  Two bidders, Central Roadways and another bidder, submitted tenders.  Central Roadways’ tender was the lowest, but on June 16, 2008 the City’s Council met and decided to award the contract to the other bidder, and advised Central Roadways the next day.

In November 2008, Central Roadways asked the City why its tender was not accepted and requested a copy of Council meeting minutes of June 16, 2008.  The City replied by letter and provided  a copy of the minutes but the minutes did not disclose any reasons why the other tender was accepted and not the tender of Central Roadways.

On February 20, 2009, Central Roadways commenced an action against the City.  The City brought a motion to dismiss the action on the ground that it was barred by the limitation period in s-s.46 (2) of the City of Summerside Act.

Section 45 and 46(1) of that Act provided that notice was to be given to the City in the case of damage sustained from unsafe conditions, or from nuisances or encumbrances, on City streets or sidewalks.  Section 46(1) then said that, except as provided in S. 46(1), all actions against the City were to be commenced within six months of the cause of action arising.

The City asserted that this limitation period applied to the claim arising from the tender, and the judge who heard the motion agreed.  But the P.E.I Court of Appeal reversed the decision.

The Court of Appeal examined the wording and history of the City of Summerside Act and concluded that the six month limitation period only applied to claims arising from City bylaws or claims relating to unsafe conditions or nuisances and encumbrances on City property.  Even though the word “all” in s. 46(2) was normally all-encompassing, it should not be so interpreted in light of these surrounding circumstances.

The Court of Appeal noted that the limitation period in P.E.I. for claims in contract is six years and that a limitation period of six months is a very different limitation period.  Since the shorter limitation period was found in a statute for the City’s benefit, it should be interpreted against the City in the event of any ambiguity.  The Court said:

“Interpreted to include all causes of action against the City, the very short six-month limitation period would seriously circumscribe the right of a person to commence any action against the City.  This being so, any ambiguity must be resolved in favour of a less restrictive limit on the time within which to commence an action.”

The Court of Appeal held that the claim by Central Roadways was in contract, since it arose from the alleged breach of its contract with the City inherent in its submission of a tender to the City’s invitation.   While there might be good policy reasons for the City to provide very short limitation periods for actions arising from slip and falls or other accidents on City streets,

“there is no valid policy reason why other actions against the City, like an action for breach of contract, should have the time for the commencement thereof limited to a very short six months…If the Legislature is of the mind that there are valid policy reasons for a shorter limitation period for the commencement of such actions against municipalities like the City, then it should express the policy more clearly in the Act  so as to specifically exclude these actions from the scope of the Statute of Limitations.”

This decision contains warnings about limitation periods relating to tenders.

The first warning is that a claim arising from a tender is a claim in contract and must be brought within the limitation period for a contract claim.  In addition, a tort claim relating to the tender must be brought within the limitation period relating to tort claims.

The second warning is this:  look for any limitation period contained in the tender documents. The tender documents may themselves contain a specific and shorter limitation period.  A shorter contractual limitation period may be permitted under the general limitation statute.  Thus, In Ontario, s.22(5) of the Limitations Act, 2002 permits the normal two year limitation period to be shortened in business agreements, but not consumer agreements.

And third, ensure that there are no other statutory limitation periods which may apply to the tender.  In Ontario, that is unlikely since s.19 of the Limitations Act, 2002 states that a statutory provision containing a conflicting limitation period is of no effect unless that provision is set out in the Schedule to the Limitations Act, 2002.  But if there is a limitation provision in another statute which is potentially enforceable, then depending on the origin and nature of that provision, the decision in the Central Roadways case may require that the limitation provision be read against the public body and only enforceable if it clearly applies to the tender.

Tenders – Limitation Period – Construction Contract – Actions – Breach of Contract – 

Central Roadways v. City of Summerside, 2011 PECA 4 (CanLII)  https://bit.ly/jnQhQk

A Builders Lien Does Not Apply To The Lease Of An Airport

The British Columbia Court of Appeal recently considered the constitutional limits of the Builders Lien Act of that province.  In Vancouver International Airport Authority v. British Columbia, the Court held that the Act did not apply to the leasehold interest of the Vancouver International Airport Authority.  The Court drew the constitutional boundary based upon the purpose of the lease from the Federal Crown.  The drawing of the boundary based upon the purpose of the lease may raise questions relating to the enforcement of provincial lien statutes against sub-leases of federal lands or from federally regulated institutions.  

          The Authority leases the Vancouver Airport from the Federal Crown under a 60 year Lease. The Lease required the Authority to use the Airport Lands for the management, operation and maintenance of an international airport.  It also required the Authority to keep the Demised Premises free of encumbrances, to indemnify the Federal Crown from construction or builders liens and prohibited the Authority from transferring its leasehold interest except with the consent of the Federal Crown.

The Builders Lien Act of British Columbia says that any agreement that provides that the Act is not to apply is void.

The B.C. Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the lower court that the Builders Lien Act did not apply to the Authority’s Lease.  The Court first applied the constitutional principle of “interjurisdictional immunity”.  This principle holds that, under the Constitution Act, there is a core of legislative jurisdiction reserved to each of the federal Parliament and the provincial legislatures, and that provincial legislatures cannot invade the core of federal legislative authority. The B.C. Court of Appeal applied recent decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada which limited the interjurisdictional immunity principle to circumstances in which provincial legislation impairs, and not merely affects, a federal power.  Accordingly, if the Builders Lien Act impaired the federal authority over aviation, then the Act was inapplicable to that extent.

The Court then reviewed the extent of the federal power over aviation.  It acknowledged that anything which is an “integral and vital part of aeronautics and aerial navigation” falls within that power and that, accordingly, airports are integral to aviation.  The Court concluded that the ultimate “hammer” in a builder’s lien is the enforcement of the lien, which would impair the operation of the airport if the lease was seized. In addition, the ability to register a lien impaired the ability of the Authority to obtain financing of the improvements necessary to fulfil the Authority’s mandate.

The Court distinguished the decision in Western Industrial Contractors Ltd. v. Sarcee Developments Ltd (1979), 98 D.L.R. (3d) 424 (Alta. C.A).  In that case, the Crown had leased land to a native development corporation, and the Alberta Court of Appeal held that the lease was subject to the provincial builders’ lien legislation, notwithstanding the federal Indian Act.   The B.C. Court of Appeal held that the distinction between the two cases arose from the purpose of the lease in each case.  In Sarcee, the purpose of the lease was for a commercial development having nothing to do with the federal legislative power. In the Vancouver International Airport Authority case, the purpose of the Lease “concerns the matter of aeronautics” and therefore the Lease fell within the exclusive federal jurisdiction.

The Court did not rule on an alternative argument, namely, that the airport land itself was “Public Property” and therefore within exclusive federal jurisdiction under s. 91(A) of the Constitution Act.

The Court’s decision raises interesting questions for sub-leases of federal land or from federally regulated institutions.  If the sublease from the airport is to a donut shop, or a clothing or magazine store, would the same result pertain?  Would the unpaid lien holder’s claim against the store owner interfere with the “purpose” of the airport?  What if the sub-lease was from a bank or a port authority, which are both federally regulated institutions, to a purely commercial operation having nothing to do with banking or shipping?  Would the lien holder’s claim against the shop owner and its sub-lease fall within the Vancouver International Airport Authority decision, or the Sarcee decision?  Does the answer change depending how important the lessee’s operations are to the commercial success, or how distant they are from the aeronautical nature, of the airport?  Thus, does a sub-lease of space to an airline fall on one side of the line and the donut shop sub-lease fall on the other?   These are questions for which the present decision provides no clear answers.

Construction Liens – Constitutional law:  Vancouver International Airport Authority v. British Columbia (Attorney General), 2011 BCCA 89 (CAnLII)

 

What Happens When a Party Refuses to Arbitrate?

A construction lawyer must keep track of the general law of contract and arbitration.  In turn, many construction cases have settled fundamental principles of the general law.  The recent decision of the UK Supreme Court in Dallah Real Estate and Tourism Holding Company v. The Ministry of Religious Affairs, Government of Pakistan is a case in point.  This decision dealt with a fundamental element in the principle of competence-competence in relation to the jurisdiction of arbitration boards.

At its heart, this case was just an ordinary construction case.  But its international dimensions may take it out of the radar screen of construction lawyers. The Plaintiff, Dallah entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Pakistan to provide housing for pilgrims to Saudi Arabia through a 55-year lease of property with related financing.  That MOU was replaced by an agreement between Dallah and a Pakistani Trust promulgated under an ordinance of the Pakistani government.  The Trust was to be financed by contributions and savings from pilgrims and philanthropists. The Pakistani Ministry of Religious Affairs was to act as secretary of the Trust.  The agreement between Dallah and the Trust provided for arbitration under the ICC (Paris) Rules.

With a change in government in Pakistan, no additional ordinances were promulgated and the Trust disappeared under Pakistani law.  The project collapsed and  Dallah commenced an arbitration, asserting that the Government of Pakistan was the real party to the agreement and was bound by the arbitration clause.  The Government of Pakistan asserted that it was not a party to the agreement and refused to participate in the arbitration.  Dallah appointed its nominee and the ICC appointed the other two nominees to the arbitration board.

The arbitration board sat in France.  Applying the competence-competence principle now well known to arbitration law, it held that it was competent to determine its own competence.  The board held that the Government of Pakistan was the real party to the agreement and found the Government liable under that agreement.  

Dallah then sought to enforce that arbitration award in England. The decision of the UK Supreme Court (which has replaced the House of Lords as the highest court in the United Kingdom) is of importance to construction lawyers for two reasons.

First, the Supreme Court held that the decision of the arbitration board about its own competence and jurisdiction had no effect on the UK court, and provided no support for the enforcement of the award.

Second, the Court held that, on the facts, the Government of Pakistan was not a party to the agreement and was not bound by that agreement or the arbitration clause found in it.

The Court rejected a variety of arguments that the decision of the arbitration board should be res judicata, or given some weight.  While the principle of competence-competence did allow the tribunal to make an initial decision about its competence, that principle and that decision was only valid and effective for the purpose of the arbitration tribunal itself and its decision about whether to proceed with the arbitration hearing or not.

However, if a party refused to participate in that process, as the Government of Pakistan did, it was not bound by the result, nor did principles of estoppel come into effect. The Court said: “An arbitral tribunal’s decision as to the existence of its own jurisdiction cannot therefore bind a party who has not submitted the question of arbitrability to the tribunal.”  That principle applied whether the tribunal’s award was sought to be enforced in the jurisdiction where it was made, or in another jurisdiction.

Nor was the issue affected by the tribunal’s own decision about jurisdiction. The UK Supreme Court said:   “The tribunal’s own view of its jurisdiction has no legal or evidential value, when the issue is whether the tribunal had any legitimate authority in relation to the Government at all.  This is so however full was the evidence before it and however carefully deliberated was its conclusion.”   The Court used a tennis analogy when it described Dallah’s application to enforce the award in England: “Dallah starts with the advantage of service, it does not start fifteen or thirty love up”.

This part of the decision of the UK Supreme Court is of legal significance.  The second part of its award is of some importance from a comparative fact standpoint.  The Court held that, on the evidence, the Government of Pakistan was not a party to the agreement and the arbitration clause found in that agreement.  The Court looked to:  the initial involvement of the Government in the MOU and the distancing of itself from the subsequent agreement; the separate legal existence of the Trust; the Government’s specific guarantee of certain obligations and not others, and its obtaining of counter-guarantees from the Trust and the Trustee’s bank; and the conduct of the parties in performing the agreement. The fact that the Trust never had assets did not prove that it was a mere tool of the Government since its acquisition of property was dependent on arrangements through Dallah which were never carried out.

These sorts of circumstances may be familiar to those involved in construction projects.  Often, a party of substance inserts a corporation, trust or other entity as the named contracting party.  The other party will have to be very careful to ensure that the named contracting party has the wherewithal to complete the project, or that suitable guarantees are obtained from the party of substance or from other guarantors.

In the result, a case of international proportions has some down-to earth-lessons for construction lawyers.  First, if a construction agreement contains an arbitration clause, an award under that clause is only as good as the binding effect of the agreement, unless the opposing party separately agrees to submit to the jurisdiction of the arbitrators.  Second, it is difficult to impose a construction agreement on a party which has not signed and expressly agreed to be a party to that agreement.

Arbitration – Competence-Competence  – Construction Law –  Construction Agreement – Enforcement

Dallah Real Estate and Tourism Holding Company v. The Ministry of Religious Affairs, Government of Pakistan, [2010] UKSC 46

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)    https://bit.ly/dPjnqH

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

www.constructionlawcanada.com                                                    April 3, 2011