Member Article

Although non-compliance with the Consumer Protection Act (the “CPA”) is generally sanctioned by the nullity of the CPA non-compliant clauses, or of the contract in its entirety, in cases involving written notices of forfeiture of the benefit of the term, the courts have sometimes decided to maintain the validity of the non-compliant notices if they were not prejudicial to the consumer’s rights. The following two judgment support this view.

CAISSE POPULAIRE DESJARDINS DU PORTAGE JUDGMENT
In a recent Court of Québec judgment, Caisse Populaire Desjardins du Portage v. Létourneau¹, the Court dismissed the defendant’s plea which sought to annul the notice of forfeiture of the benefit of the term because the statements of account attached to the said notice did not detail all of the information prescribed by the Regulation respecting the application of the CPA (the “Regulation”). Contrary to the requirements of subsections 67(e) and 67(f) of the Regulation, the statements of account in question did not clearly indicate the balance of net capital remaining after each sum of money paid into the defendant’s account, nor the portion thereof used to pay the net capital and the portion used to pay credit charges.

Having sent two notices of forfeiture of the benefit of the term and waited the requisite thirty (30) days for the forfeiture to occur, the Caisse sued the defendant for the reimbursement of two personal loans on which the defendant failed to make monthly instalments.

At trial, the defendant admitted owing payments on the loans, however she submitted that the notices were invalid because the statements of account did not include all of the information required by the Regulation. Therefore, she argued that the forfeiture of the benefit of the term had not occurred and she was only liable to pay the plaintiff the lapsed instalments, rather than the balance of the loans.

The Caisse admitted that the statements of account did not respect the form prescribed by the Regulation, but argued that the information omitted was not material and should not invalidate the notices.

The Court noted that the purpose of the statement of account attached to the notice of forfeiture of the benefit of the term is to inform the consumer of the amount owing so that he may, within thirty (30) days of the receipt of such notice, remedy the default by paying the stated amount to the merchant. In this case, the Court sided with the Caisse, agreeing that the notices and the attached statements of account contained the information required for the defendant to ascertain and remedy its default. Citing another Court of Québec judgment in the case of Banque de Montréal v. Bujold², rendered in 2009, the Court reminded us that the CPA was adopted in order to protect consumers from illegal practices of merchants, but it should not enable consumers to plead trivial and immaterial non-compliance with the law in order to avoid their obligations....

Footnotes: 1. Caisse Populaire Desjardins du Portage v. Létourneau, 250-22-002775-125 (C.Q.). 2. Banque de Montréal v. Bujold, 2009 QCCQ 5530.