Executive Summary: Key Legal and Evidentiary Issues

• A Superior Court judge declared General Motors of Canada Company and Repentigny Chevrolet Buick GMC foreclosed from filing expert reports on February 16, 2026.
   
• Leave to appeal that interlocutory judgment was granted on April 16, 2026, and the first-instance proceedings were stayed.
   
• The respondent, Jérôme David, was placed in default on appeal after a procedural imbroglio prevented him from filing his brief on time.
   
• David sought leave to be heard despite the certificate of default under article 376(2) of the Code of Civil Procedure.
   
• All parties agreed to an acquiescence with reservation and asked that the appeal be decided on the record under articles 384 and 218 para. 2 C.C.P.
   
• Expert evidence from Hendrix Lamontagne, filed as Exhibit GM-1, was the report the appellants were ultimately permitted to produce.
   

Facts of the case

The underlying proceeding, David v. Repentigny Chevrolet Buick GMC inc., is before the Superior Court in the district of Saint-François under file number 450-17-009214-249. The decision does not describe the nature of the underlying claim. On February 16, 2026, Justice Johanne Brodeur declared General Motors of Canada Company and Repentigny Chevrolet Buick GMC foreclosed from filing expert reports. A judge of the Court of Appeal granted leave to appeal that interlocutory judgment on April 16, 2026, in 2026 QCCA 499, and stayed the proceedings at first instance.

David, as respondent on appeal, was unable to file his brief within the prescribed time because of what the Court described as a procedural imbroglio. Annick Nguyen, deputy clerk of the Court of Appeal, signed a certificate of default against him on June 19, 2026. The parties reached an agreement on the appeal, and the acquiescence with reservation they signed is dated June 5, 2026.

Policy and legislative provisions at issue

The decision discusses no policy terms or contractual clauses. David relied on article 376(2) of the Code of Civil Procedure to seek leave to be heard despite the certificate of default. He also invoked articles 384 and 218 para. 2 C.C.P. to have the appeal decided on the record, based on the terms of an acquiescence with reservation on which all parties concerned agreed.

Reasoning and analysis

The Court's reasons are brief and rest on consent. It relied on the parties' agreement to proceed in this manner and on the absence of any contestation of the conclusions sought in David's motions. Because the motions were uncontested, counsel for both sides were exempted from attending the September 28, 2026 hearing. The decision does not examine the merits of the foreclosure ruling or the criteria for relief from default.

Ruling and overall outcome

The panel of Justices Guy Gagnon, Peter Kalichman and Christian Immer authorized David to present his motion, granted his motion under article 384 C.C.P., and declared that the appeal would be decided on the record. It then granted his motion for acquiescence with reservation and annulled Justice Brodeur's foreclosure conclusion in accordance with the June 5, 2026 acquiescence. General Motors of Canada Company and Repentigny Chevrolet Buick GMC, the successful parties, were permitted to file Exhibit GM-1 in the first-instance record as an expert report. The exhibit consists of Hendrix Lamontagne's expert report for the inspection, dated February 24, 2026, together with the invoice, the declaration regarding the expert's mission and the expert's qualifications. The Court lifted the stay of proceedings at first instance. No monetary amount was awarded, and the order was made without legal costs given the absence of contestation.