Executive Summary: Key Legal and Evidentiary Issues

• Existence and terms of the original service contract to secure a Canadian temporary work permit for the claimant’s niece, including the agreed fee of CAD $11,000 and the CFA 3 million (CAD $6,750) advance.
• Evidentiary weight of the claimant’s detailed demand letter and testimony, corroborated by the referring intermediary, in establishing what services were (and were not) rendered and how the parties later modified their agreement.
• Characterization of the defendant’s promise to reimburse CAD $6,750 (less CAD $565 in fees) as a binding “transaction” under articles 2631 and 2633 C.c.Q., formed by mutual concessions to resolve a live dispute.
• Determination that the refund undertaking was a personal commitment by the defendant, despite his claim to be acting solely as representative of PSK Consultation inc., which later went bankrupt.
• Lack of documentary proof from the defendant (e.g., corporate resolutions, bankruptcy creditor lists) to show that the corporation, rather than he personally, assumed the repayment obligation.
• Quantification of the claimant’s recovery as reimbursement of CAD $6,185, plus legal interest, additional indemnity and CAD $2,134 in costs, following a finding that the services intended were not delivered and had become unnecessary.

Factual background and parties

The dispute arises from a private arrangement between Bomono Toukounou Grégoire, a resident in Montréal, and Ketchate Paulins, who operated through a consulting business known as PSK Consultation inc. The central objective of their agreement was to bring Mr. Bomono Toukounou’s niece, residing in Douala, Cameroon, to Canada as a temporary foreign worker with a work permit. At a meeting on 25 April 2023, arranged by mutual acquaintance Blaise Lako and held at PSK’s Montréal office, the parties discussed the niece’s profile and the immigration pathway. Following negotiations, an overall fee of CFA 5 million (approximately CAD $11,000) was agreed for handling the temporary worker permit process. A first installment of CFA 3 million (approximately CAD $6,750) was set as the opening payment to launch the file and initiate the procedures. The parties also agreed, at the initiative of Mr. Paulins and Mr. Lako, that payment would be made in the local Cameroonian currency, the franc CFA, given that the niece resided in Cameroon. On 8 May 2023, with the help of a friend in Douala (Mr. Tchomgwi Foko Gilles), the claimant arranged for payment of CFA 3 million to PSK’s agency in Douala. A receipt was issued for this payment, and copies of the niece’s passport, birth certificate, esthetician diploma and photographs were transmitted by WhatsApp to Mr. Lako as part of the file preparation.

Change in circumstances and request for reimbursement

Several months later, the factual context changed significantly. By August 2023, the claimant learned that his niece had accepted a marriage proposal from her partner living in the United States, who intended to travel to Cameroon to marry her. More than three months had elapsed since the funds were paid, and the claimant had received no concrete evidence of progress on the Canadian temporary work permit file. In light of the impending marriage and the absence of visible steps toward the Canadian work visa, he asked that the Canadian process be stopped and requested a reimbursement of the CFA 3 million (CAD $6,750) he had paid. Demonstrating some willingness to compromise, the claimant indicated he would allow a retention of CFA 250,000 (about CAD $565) for administrative fees, provided the rest of the amount was repaid. The niece’s marriage was celebrated on 18 January 2024, and in February 2024 the claimant sent a copy of the marriage certificate and videos of the ceremony to Mr. Lako, again renewing his request for reimbursement less the agreed fee.

Meeting after the marriage and the reimbursement promise

As time passed without repayment, the claimant went back to PSK’s Montréal office in March 2024 and met directly with Mr. Paulins. He discovered at that time that a process had purportedly been initiated for his niece to come to Canada as the spouse of “someone,” which did not match the original agreement to bring her as a temporary worker. The claimant objected that this was not their initial understanding; she was supposed to come under a temporary work permit, not via spousal sponsorship or a spousal-based route. In response to these objections, the evidence shows that Mr. Paulins agreed to stop the process and committed to reimburse the amount of CAD $6,750, with a deduction of CAD $565 to cover fees, effectively promising a net repayment of CAD $6,185. According to the testimony of both the claimant and Mr. Lako, this was presented as a firm undertaking by Mr. Paulins, and the claimant accepted this solution. However, despite that agreed compromise, no refund followed. The claimant recounted multiple follow-ups and missed appointments, both in Montréal and involving contacts in Douala, with no return of the funds. Meanwhile, his niece was in the process of joining her husband in the United States, making any Canadian temporary work permit application unnecessary and, in his view, rendering the payment a non-owed (“indue”) payment since the service for which it had been paid was never actually performed.

Nature of the legal dispute and positions of the parties

The case reached the Cour du Québec, Small Claims Division, as an action in recovery of the sum advanced. The claimant argued that the initial service arrangement had not led to any meaningful action on the Canadian work permit application and that, in any case, the niece’s subsequent marriage and move toward the United States meant the service was no longer needed. He emphasized that he had received no documentation or concrete steps from PSK regarding the work permit application since the payment, and that the defendant had personally promised to refund the money, subject only to a modest fee deduction. The defendant, for his part, did not dispute that the payment of CAD $6,750 had been made to PSK’s Douala agency, nor that he had agreed to reimburse the amount. However, he contended that he had acted only in his capacity as representative of PSK Consultation inc. and not in a personal capacity. He further stated that PSK Consultation inc. went bankrupt in 2024, and on that basis he asked the court to dismiss the claim against him personally, asserting that any claim should have been directed against the company in the bankruptcy process rather than against him individually.

Legal framework: transaction and personal obligation

The court’s analysis turned on the concept of “transaction” under Quebec civil law, not on any insurance or policy wording. Articles 2631 and 2633 of the Civil Code of Québec define a transaction as a contract in which parties prevent a dispute from arising, end existing litigation, or settle difficulties in enforcing a judgment, by way of mutual concessions, and provide that a transaction has between the parties the authority of res judicata once concluded. The judgment stresses that a transaction is formed by the parties’ agreement, not by the existence of a written document alone; an oral or informal agreement can still be a binding transaction if the conditions are met. Drawing on jurisprudence, the court identified three conditions for a valid transaction: the existence of a dispute or potential dispute between the parties, mutual concessions or a compromise, and an agreement on the essential elements of the settlement. Applying these principles, the court found that all three conditions were satisfied. There was a live dispute regarding the use and refund of the CFA 3 million/CAD $6,750 payment and whether any services had been provided. There were mutual concessions: the claimant agreed to forgo part of the refund (CAD $565) as fees; the defendant agreed to refund the balance (CAD $6,185). And there was clear agreement on the key terms of the settlement—namely, that the process would be stopped and the specified reduced amount would be reimbursed.

Assessment of evidence on personal versus corporate liability

A central evidentiary issue was whether the reimbursement promise bound the defendant personally or only PSK Consultation inc. The claimant and Mr. Lako both testified that the engagement to repay was taken personally by Mr. Paulins, and their versions of the events converged on this point. The defendant, by contrast, insisted that he always acted on behalf of the company and that any obligation lay with PSK Consultation inc., now bankrupt. The court noted that beyond his own testimony, the defendant did not produce any documentary evidence—such as corporate resolutions, internal authorizations, or bankruptcy records—to show that the company had formally taken on the obligation to reimburse the claimant. No evidence was presented that the claimant was listed as a creditor in PSK Consultation inc.’s 2024 bankruptcy. This absence of documentation, when weighed against the detailed and corroborated testimony of the claimant and Mr. Lako, led the court to conclude on a balance of probabilities that the repayment commitment was indeed personal. The court held that the defendant’s attempt to shield himself behind the corporation’s bankruptcy failed on the evidence and that he remained personally responsible for honoring the transaction.

Findings on services rendered and characterization of the payment

In light of the factual record, the court accepted the claimant’s assertion that, more than a year after the substantial advance was paid, he had still “received nothing and seen nothing” in relation to a Canadian temporary work permit application for his niece. While the defendant alluded to having initiated steps to bring the niece as the spouse of “someone,” this did not correspond to the initial work-permit-based mandate and was not supported by documentation. Given that the niece had married and was preparing to join her husband in the United States, the court accepted that the Canadian temporary worker route had become unnecessary. This strengthened the claimant’s characterization of the advance as a non-owed payment once the agreed service had not been performed and no equivalent benefit had been delivered. The court implicitly treated the refund as both a matter of honoring the transaction and restoring funds that no longer had a legal basis to be retained.

Outcome and monetary relief

Having found that a valid transaction existed and that it created a personal obligation for the defendant, the court rejected the defense that the claim should fail due to the corporation’s bankruptcy. The court allowed the claim and ordered the defendant to pay the claimant CAD $6,185, corresponding to the original CAD $6,750 advance less the CAD $565 fee that the claimant had agreed to concede. In addition, the court awarded legal interest at the statutory rate and the additional indemnity from 6 June 2026, the precise amount of which will depend on when payment is made and the applicable legal interest rate at that time. The defendant was also condemned to pay all court costs, assessed at CAD $2,134. In total, the successful party is the claimant, Bomono Toukounou Grégoire, who obtained a principal award and costs totaling CAD $8,319 (CAD $6,185 in principal plus CAD $2,134 in costs), along with legal interest and the additional indemnity whose exact monetary value cannot yet be determined.