ONR Limited Partnership v. The King, 2024 TCC 156 -- summary under Evidence

The appellant (the “LP”) was a wholly-owned limited partnership of a REIT. The REIT and the LP entered into two successive written forms of agency agreements pursuant to which, in order to raise money for the LP’s real estate business, the REIT was authorized to raise money through REIT unit or debenture offerings and to incur the related costs as agent for the LP. The LP had declined to authenticate the proper execution of the two agency agreements, and Sommerfeldt J did so himself for the 2012 agency agreement through the “comparison of hands” method (i.e., comparison to the signature on another agreement that was acknowledged to have been executed by the same officer) pursuant to s. 8 of the Canada Evidence Act, but was unable to do so for the 2013 agency agreement.