Uppal Estate v. The King, 2025 TCC 34 -- summary under Onus

Graham J ordered that the Crown’s pleading, that the purchase by the deceased taxpayer of shares of a company occurred “singly or jointly with” a corporation owned by him, should be struck (with leave to file amended pleadings). Graham J agreed with the estate that the two statements of whom the shares’ beneficial ownership was acquired for were mutually inconsistent. Instead, the Minister's should have pled the Minister’s primary assessing position in the assumptions of fact portion of the Reply, and the alternative facts necessary to support an alternative assessing position in a separate part of the reply. Furthermore, such pleadings entailed prejudice to the estate since the alternative positions substantially impacted the case which the estate would have the burden of disproving; and assumptions of fact were particularly important when an appellant was an estate.