Executive Summary: Key Legal and Evidentiary Issues

• Francis Gagnon, an engineering candidate, rendered professional services to YRTechnosoft inc. under a verbal agreement at $43.50 per hour plus applicable taxes, with no written contract.
• Disputed invoices covering the period of January 9, 2022 to July 2, 2022 totalled an unpaid balance of $10,604.80 in principal.
• YRTechnosoft refused full payment, citing billing delays, loss of confidence, allegedly impossible work hours, and a $500 payment it characterized as final.
• The court found that none of YRTechnosoft's grounds for non-payment were legally valid or sufficiently supported by evidence.
• A "dernier paiement" (final payment) notation on an Interac transfer was held insufficient to constitute a full and final settlement, particularly given Gagnon's contemporaneous written objection.
• The court ordered YRTechnosoft inc. to pay Gagnon $10,604.80 in principal plus $237 in court costs, with legal interest and the additional indemnity under Article 1619 of the Civil Code of Québec running from March 19, 2024.

Facts of the case

Francis Gagnon, an engineering candidate at the time of the relevant events, met Yves Rossignol, president of YRTechnosoft inc. (YRT), during his studies at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi in 2019. In 2021, Rossignol approached Gagnon with a proposal to sponsor his path to becoming a licensed engineer in the context of professional services involving industrial drawings. The parties agreed on a rate of $43.50 per hour plus applicable taxes, with no written contract ever established. Gagnon began work on June 13, 2021. YRT paid all of Gagnon's 2021 invoices, though only in the summer of 2022.

For the period of January 9, 2022 to July 2, 2022, Gagnon rendered professional services under Rossignol's real-time instructions, preparing 21 invoices (numbered 025 to 045). Due to the delays YRT had already shown in paying the 2021 invoices, Gagnon transmitted these invoices in two batches: on April 24, 2022 (invoices 025 to 037) and July 3, 2022 (invoices 038 to 045). YRT refused to pay the outstanding balance, citing various grounds of dissatisfaction, and made only a $500 payment on September 18, 2023, which it described as a final payment. On March 16, 2024, Gagnon sent a formal demand letter, received by YRT on March 19, 2024. YRT responded on March 26, 2024, alleging several points of dissatisfaction and claiming it had overpaid by $2,712.30, though it filed no counterclaim. Gagnon filed his small claims application on January 31, 2025, seeking the unpaid balance along with interest at 24% per annum.

Contractual terms and obligations at issue

The parties' arrangement was entirely verbal — no written agreement existed. The agreed rate was $43.50 per hour plus taxes. Because there was no written contract stipulating an interest rate, the court declined at the outset of the hearing to award the 24% annual interest rate Gagnon sought, noting that such a rate requires a written agreement. The applicable interest provisions were therefore those under Articles 1618 and 1619 of the Civil Code of Québec, which govern the legal interest rate and the additional indemnity.

Reasoning and analysis

The court first addressed the unpaid invoice balance. Gagnon testified to the professional services underlying each of the 21 invoices and produced time annotations recorded in real time, broken down contract by contract. While the court acknowledged the time-recording method was relatively simple, it noted that YRT never requested additional explanation or a different method during the entire period the parties worked together. The court held it was YRT's responsibility to demand a more precise method or to provide appropriate software if it was dissatisfied. Satisfied with Gagnon's testimony and the supporting invoices, the court confirmed the unpaid capital amount at $10,604.80.

The court then examined each of YRT's grounds for refusing payment. On billing delay, the court found this was not a valid basis for non-payment, particularly since the delay was itself caused by YRT's own tardiness in paying the 2021 invoices. On loss of confidence — arising from Gagnon allegedly using SolidWorks to produce drawings for his father's benefit — the court treated this as an isolated incident not governed by any agreement, and found it did not constitute a violation of loyalty or honesty obligations, drawing an analogy to Article 2088 of the Civil Code of Québec applicable to employment contracts. On the alleged 80-hour work weeks, YRT's secretary-treasurer, Marielle Bouchard, was unable to substantiate the claim at the hearing; the court found that the 82.3 hours referenced in the records related to cumulative time spent on a file over several weeks, not a single work week. On the matter of Gagnon occasionally bringing his partner to work, the court found no evidence this affected his performance, and noted that no verbal or written notice was ever given to him. Regarding unpaid submissions — the argument that Gagnon should have known he was working on bids YRT did not win and thus bore the financial risk — the court rejected this outright, holding that it was YRT's responsibility to inform Gagnon in advance if he was expected to share that risk, which it never did.

Ruling and overall outcome

The court dismissed all of YRT's defences and ruled in favour of Francis Gagnon. On the question of the $500 "final payment," the court found the notation "dernier paiement" on the September 18, 2023 Interac transfer to be plainly insufficient to constitute a complete and final settlement — particularly because, unlike a cheque, an electronic transfer requires no affirmative act of acceptance that would signal agreement to the stated terms. Crucially, Gagnon had emailed Marielle Bouchard at 10:01 a.m. on the same date, before accepting the transfer at 10:31 a.m., expressly refusing any settlement offer and reiterating his demand for full payment under threat of legal proceedings. The court ordered YRTechnosoft inc. to pay Gagnon $10,604.80 in principal plus $237 in court costs, together with legal interest and the additional indemnity under Article 1619 of the Civil Code of Québec running from March 19, 2024, for a total confirmed award of $10,841.80 in favour of the plaintiff.