The Home Construction Regulatory Authority charged our four developer clients from the Briarwood developer family, Briarwood Estates (Sutton) Inc, 2401886 Ontario Ltd, 863195 Ontario Ltd., and Briarwood (Angus) Ltd. with 142 counts of misconduct under section 3 of the Code of Ethics to the New Home Construction Licensing Act, 2017. The financial penalties sought amounted to approximately $33M, placing our clients’ futures and livelihoods at stake, in addition to their reputations and abilities to be licensed.
The discipline trial in this matter was hard-fought over several days in February, March, and September of this year. The material events leading up to the conclusion of the hearing included:
- On March 3, 2025, the Discipline Committee Panel (the “Panel”) released the attached decision on a motion by the Briarwood Respondents, finding that the HCRA had failed to make adequate disclosure, and ordering that further disclosure be provided. A link to that decision can be found here
- On Friday, September 12, on a motion by the Briarwood Respondents, the HCRA’s expert witness was disqualified by the Panel for failing to have proper qualifications to give evidence in the proceeding;
- On Wednesday, September 17, on a motion by the Briarwood Respondents, the Panel dismissed 128/142 counts in the proceeding for failure of evidence to make out the counts. This meant the dismissal of the proceedings as against two of the four Briarwood Respondents entirely;
- On Monday, September 22, the remaining 14 counts were withdrawn. The HCRA announced to the Panel that “given the direction of the hearing, the HCRA determined it was in the public interest to resolve the remaining issues. As part of this resolution, the HCRA is withdrawing the 14 remaining counts. This brings the proceedings to an end.”
No findings were made against the Briarwood Respondents.
This is an amazing result in one of the largest regulatory prosecutions in Ontario.
Ross Nasseri LLP would be remiss if it did not also thank and acknowledge the tremendous efforts of our former partner Helen Richards, who worked passionately on this case, and was counsel of record for the first half of the trial.