Wes McMillan, Natalie Chan, and Mia Stewart win 19-day commercial real estate trial

Wes McMillan, along with AMLC’s Natalie Chan and Mia Stewart, as well as Nerissa Yan of Yan Muirhead LLP, obtained judgment for over 30 putative pre-sale purchasers. In 2015 and 2016, the plaintiffs entered into 32 pre-sale contracts for a development in Richmond, BC known as "AFLA".  In 2019, the developer purported to exercise a right to terminate those contracts, citing an inability to obtain constructing financing and a lawsuit that had been commenced by the general contractor against the developer.

Wes persuaded the court that the developer was dishonest in its performance of the pre-sale contracts and was not entitled to terminate them.  Wes also persuaded the court that the plaintiffs' damages should be determined as at the date they accepted the developer's breach of contract (August 2021), not the date of dishonest performance (July 2019).  The plaintiffs were awarded over $13 million in damages.

To read the decision, visit 2024 BCSC 216. For more information on Allen / McMillan’s real estate litigation practice, please contact Wes at wes@amlc.ca and Natalie at natalie@amlc.ca.