Ruling denies fraudster’s appeal but grants appeals of notary and insurer
In an estate proceeding, the Quebec Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal of a man found to have devised a strategy to transfer money flowing from the estate assets to his accounts, but allowed a notary’s and an insurer’s appeals.
The case was Litvack c. Matsuba (Estate of Myers), 2026 QCCA 1147. In January 2018, B. Myers died, leaving an estate valued at over $2 million. He bequeathed all his assets to K. Matsuba, with whom he had resided for the last two decades of his life.
Matsuba feared lengthy litigation if Myers’ daughters contested the will. N. Floyd, Myers’ friend, offered to help Matsuba protect the estate assets from the daughters.
In less than a year, purportedly under a power of attorney (POA) that Matsuba had signed in his favour, Floyd took control of most estate assets. The officiating notary transferred $1,250,444.25 in sale proceeds of the estate’s immovable property to Floyd’s account.
Floyd also made Matsuba sign a letter, supposedly gifting him all the sums held in his accounts.
Litigation ensues
Matsuba asked Floyd to return the money. Floyd refused, claiming that she could not undo the gift.
In April 2020, Matsuba initiated a legal action against Floyd. The Quebec Superior Court granted a Mareva injunction and seizures before judgment to freeze Myers’ banking and trading accounts.
A year later, Matsuba brought proceedings against the notary and a professional liability insurer.
Quebec Superior Court’s judgment
On May 30, 2024, Justice David Roberge of the Superior Court partly granted Matsuba’s action against Floyd.
Declaring the POA and the gift letter null and void, the trial judge condemned Floyd to pay Matsuba $2,071,886.17 in material damages, $75,000 in moral damages, and $50,000 in punitive damages.
The judge found the Mareva injunction and the seizures before judgment valid and binding. He ordered Floyd, the notary, and the insurer to pay Matsuba $1,250,444.25 solidarily, apportioned as follows:
- 100 percent to Floyd
- zero percent to the notary and the insurer
Quebec Court of Appeal denies appeal
Floyd, the notary, and Chambre des notaires du Québec, acting through the insurer’s intermediary, appealed.
The Court of Appeal of Quebec dismissed Floyd’s appeal with costs. Without a full record, including evidentiary transcripts adduced during trial, the appeal court declined to disturb the trial judge’s findings.
However, the appeal court granted the notary’s and the insurer’s appeals. Thus, the appeal court dismissed Matsuba’s proceedings against them, without costs at first instance, but with costs on appeal.
Power of attorney’s annulment upheld
The appeal court found no reviewable error in the trial judge’s decision to annul the POA and to order the restitution of all the sums appropriated, given the fraud that had vitiated Matsuba’s consent.
The appeal court rejected Floyd’s argument that the POA signed by Matsuba was valid. According to the judge, Floyd had exaggerated the risk of estate litigation.
Gift letter found void
The appeal court saw no basis to interfere with the trial judge’s declaration that the gift letter was null and void, considering the deceitful tactics that had vitiated Matsuba’s consent.
Given these tactics, the judge had found that Matsuba had believed that the gift letter would protect her from litigation by Myers’ daughters, not transfer all the estate assets to Floyd.
Damages award affirmed
First, the appeal court found no basis to intervene with the material damages award. The appeal court rejected Floyd’s arguments that the trial judge:
- failed to consider that $400,000 of the $1.25 million that the purchaser had paid for the immovable property was for Floyd’s baseball card collection
- failed to recognize that Floyd had paid Matsuba $50,000 and $100,000 in cash
- should have ascribed no value to Myers’ Patek Philippe watch that had disappeared
Second, the appeal court refused to interfere with the moral damages award, even though it was on the high end. The judge had found that Matsuba had gone through mental anguish and social humiliation due to Floyd’s behaviour.
Third, the appeal court saw no reason to disturb the punitive damages award, which fulfilled the preventive purpose and recognized the very serious nature of the interference.
Notary’s liability
In its decision, the appeal court acknowledged that the trial judge had reduced the notary’s liability to zero percent.
However, the appeal court saw a legal error in the judge’s declaration that the notary was solidarily liable despite determining that the notary did not directly or logically cause Matsuba’s injury.
Previous estate law cases by appeal courts
Here are some other recent trusts and estates law decisions by Canada’s appellate courts.
While agreeing with an executrix that a beneficiary’s request to remove her triggered a will’s no-contest clause, the Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal issued an Aug. 20 decision remitting the matter for an application of the frivolous and vexatious test for disinheritance.
Despite three siblings’ agreement to the grant of an appeal, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal issued a July 29 decision dismissing the appeal and confirming the correctness of the chambers judge’s order for a trial to prove their mother’s will in solemn form.
On July 3, the Alberta Court of Appeal denied an appeal brought by the estate’s current personal representative, who wanted the estate’s prior personal representatives to disclose certain estate-related documents that a chambers judge had considered privileged.
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