Case updates
Dec 01, 2025
The Supreme Court of British Columbia ruled that Bella Valley Enterprises Ltd. must pay $2.02 million to the sellers of Hainle Estate Winery for wine inventory wrongfully excluded from the purchase price.
In a decision released on November 6, 2025, Justice G.P. Weatherill found in favour of the plaintiffs in Huber Estate Vineyards Inc. v. Hainle Vineyards Estate Winery Ltd. (2025 BCSC 2182). Counsel for the plaintiffs were Lauren Nykolaychuk and Laurel Hogg.
The case arose from the 2017 sale of the Peachland, BC winery and vineyard, in which the defendants, Bella Valley Enterprises Ltd., bypassed their lawyers and purchased Hainle for $3.9 million. The dispute centered on whether the winery’s substantial inventory of bottled and bulk wines was included in that purchase price or was to be paid for separately under a series of collateral agreements.
Justice Weatherill held that, despite the inventory being referenced as included in the formal share purchase agreement, the surrounding agreements and correspondence clearly established it was to be treated as a separate asset valued at $2.02 million. The Court concluded that Bella Valley breached its contractual obligations by failing to pay for the inventory as agreed. In doing so, Justice Weatherill emphasized that the defendants’ financial troubles resulted from their own lack of due diligence, cultural and language misunderstandings, and unrealistic business expectations, not from any misrepresentation or deceit by the plaintiff sellers.
The Court dismissed all counterclaims alleging fraud, misrepresentation, and unmerchantable product quality, finding no credible evidence to support those allegations. In addition to the $2.02 million awarded for the inventory, the plaintiffs also received further damages for related contractual breaches, including wrongful termination. Justice Weatherill described the defendants as “the authors of their own misfortune,” underscoring that their losses were the product of mismanagement rather than misconduct.