THE COURT JUDGMENTS

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THE TRIAL JUDGMENT

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The trial in the matter of Aaron Gelber and Norman Sternthal v. The Estate of the Late David Kwinter, took place in the Quebec Superior Court, District of Montreal from March 5 to 9, 2007 before Mr. Justice John H. Gomery.  In his written judgment dated April 5, 2007, Mr. Justice Gomery held that the Option Agreement that the Plaintiffs, Aaron Gelber and Norman Sternthal were trying to enforce against the Estate of the Late David Kwinter was unenforceable as the late David Kwinter’s consent to Option Agreement was not freely given as the Late David Kwinter’s signature had secured as a direct result of the threats made by Aaron Gelber to improperly withhold significant amounts of monies owed to  the Late David Kwinter unless he, the Late David Kwinter, signed the contested Option Agreement. A copy of Mr. Justice Gomery’s trial judgment is accessible on this website.

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THE QUEBEC COURT OF APPEAL JUDGMENT

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The Plaintiffs appealed the Trial Judge’s decision setting aside the Option Agreement to the Quebec Court of Appeal who, in a September 29, 2008 unanimous decision, dismissed the Plaintiffs’ appeal.  In its written reasons, the Quebec Court of Appeal stated that based on the evidenced adduced at trial the Trial Judge had correctly found that the Late David Kwinter had signed the Option Agreement under duress and that the conduct of the Plaintiffs could not be viewed as a legitimate exercise of economic leverage by one contracting party against another.  In addition, the Quebec Court of Appeal commented that Aaron Gelber’s attempts to explain away the odious threats made by him to Hirsh Kwinter during the taped February 1984 telephone conversation failed to impress the Trial Judge who found Aaron Gelber to be evasive, self-contradicting and affected by a defective memory.  A copy of the Quebec Court of Appeal’s judgment is accessible on this website.