Peat Marwick Thorne Inc. v. Crowe et al., (1990) 97 N.S.R.(2d) 199 (TD)

• Judge: Roscoe, J.
• Court: Supreme Court of Nova Scotia (Canada)
• Case Date: May 22, 1990
• Jurisdiction: Nova Scotia
• Citations: (1990), 97 N.S.R.(2d) 199 (TD)

Peat Marwick Thorne v. Crowe (1990), 97 N.S.R.(2d) 199 (TD);

    258 A.P.R. 199

MLB headnote and full text

Peat Marwick Thorne Inc. (plaintiff) v. Harold Alexander Crowe, Paul Francoise LeBlanc, Robert Curtis McCully, Margaret Elizabeth Caldwell, John David Page, William Kenneth Caldwell, Eric Campbell Butler and Judith Clare Butler (defendants)

(S.H. No. 71670)

Indexed As: Peat Marwick Thorne Inc. v. Crowe et al.

Nova Scotia Supreme Court

Trial Division

Roscoe, J.

June 14, 1990.

Summary:

Eight bankrupts assigned to the Trustee in Bankruptcy post-bankruptcy income tax refunds as assets of their estate. In discharging the bankrupts, the Registrar in Bankruptcy ordered all post-bankruptcy refunds returned to the bankrupts. The Trustee appealed in each case and the appeals were consolidated.

The Nova Scotia Supreme Court, Trial Division, allowed the appeals and held that the refunds became part of the bankrupts' estates and the Registrar erred in ordering their return.

Bankruptcy - Topic 440.2

Property of bankrupt - Particular property - Post-bankruptcy income tax refunds - Bankrupts, by written agreement, assigned all post-bankruptcy income tax refunds to the Trustee in Bankruptcy - The Nova Scotia Supreme Court, Trial Division, held that the refunds became part of the bankrupts' estates, both deductions from salary and any tax credits - The court stated that absent a specific agreement, any tax credit portion of a refund would be part of the bankrupts' estates, but amounts deducted from wages must be returned to the bankrupts unless the Trustee applied under s. 68 of the Bankruptcy Act.

Cases Noticed:

Re Goulet (1977), 24 C.B.R.(N.S.) 222, refd to. [para. 10].

Re Walker (1982), 43 C.B.R.(N.S.) 319, refd to. [para. 11].

Re Bouffard (1989), 24 C.B.R.(N.S.) 318, refd to. [para. 12].

Statutes Noticed:

Bankruptcy Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. B-3, sect. 2 [para. 7]; sect. 5(4) [para. 1]; sect. 67 [para. 8]; sect. 68 [para. 9]; sect. 192(4) [para. 1].

Counsel:

David A. MacAdam, Q.C., for the plaintiff;

Martin Ward, for the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, intervenor.

These appeals were heard on May 22, 1990, in Chambers before Roscoe, J., of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court, Trial Division, who delivered the following judgment on June 14, 1990.