View cases - Stewart McKelvey

- 7 -and a capital gain of $23,874.77 from the sale of a rental property. Mr. Coppola testified thathe sold the rental property in order to cover living expenses for himself and his family.[17] Mr. Coppola advised that he disclosed the allegations of dishonest or fraudulentconduct in the statement of defence and counterclaim to his partner, Mr. Drayton, and also toone of his former customers from Capital Pontiac, Ms. Gertie Mazil. The purpose ofdisclosing the allegation to Ms. Mazil was to ask her to write a letter clarifying the nature ofthe transaction that led to the allegation of a missing vehicle.2011 SKQB 318 (CanLII)[18] Mr. Coppola could not estimate the financial loss arising from the allegation ofdishonesty or fraudulent conduct but described that these allegations were emotionallydevastating. It consumed a great deal of his time and effort which he could not otherwisedevote to the new mortgage brokerage business. He found it stressful and caused sleeplessnights, especially since he did not know who else was aware of the allegations. He did notseek medical attention to deal with this stressful situation. However, he did get support fromhis siblings and also from his wife, who is a psychiatric nurse.[19] Mr. Coppola also testified that he was greatly bothered by the fact that Mr. Axelsondid not accept that Capital Pontiac had made a mistake in regards to the Gertie Mazil matteruntil the examinations for discovery in January of 2004. Even that, however, was short-livedconsolation since the amended statement of defence filed in May of 2004 which removed theallegation of dishonest or fraudulent conduct retained the allegation made in the originalstatement of defence and counterclaim that he had “engaged in actions which resulted in thetermination of his employment” from Bennett Dunlop—thereby suggesting that he wasdismissed for cause.