February 11 – Constructive Trust Ingredients

“A party seeking an ownership interest by way of constructive trust must plead and then prove facts establishing entitlement to it. The fact that a claimant must prove enrichment of the other party and a corresponding deprivation of the claimant, with no juristic reason for the enrichment in order to establish a constructive trust, and must also show that damages alone are insufficient and only a proprietary remedy is adequate, does not alter the fact that the claimant has asked the court from the beginning to award an interest in land. To me, all this means is that the claimant has to plead and prove those key elements, usually called “material facts” in litigation, to justify the order sought. It should not matter how many material facts there are or whether the entitlement to land requires a two-step analysis, so long as the application makes a claim of entitlement to ownership of land.”

McConnell v. Huxtable, 2013 ONSC 948 (CanLII) at 77