A BC Supreme Court judge decided March 4 that it was appropriate to offer a minor clarification to a court order because the defendants in a dispute over dental office franchises “appear to have lost the plot.”
Last November, Justice Ward Branch granted an injunction to Dentalcorp Health Services Ltd. for Dr. J.S. Minhas Dental Corp. to cease being in engaged in the acquisition, consolidation and/or management of dental clinics at Pine Centre Mall in Prince George and Powell River Town Centre.
In 2017, Dentalcorp agreed to pay $11 million in cash and shares for Minhas’s five Prince George dental clinics, under the Family Dental Care (FDC) banner. The deal allowed Minhas to operate FDC Clinics on contract.
From 2018 to 2022, Minhas worked with Dentalcorp on potential acquisition of clinics in Prince George, Quesnel, Ladner, North Vancouver and Vancouver. Minhas started his own company called Smili, which prompted Dentalcorp to terminate its services agreement with Minhas in June 2024.
They returned before Branch on Jan. 14 and Feb. 4, seeking clarification about what might breach last year’s injunction.
“Their ‘what ifs’ included such potential arrangements as acting solely as a lessor for an intended dental practice,” Ward wrote. “At times, the hearing had the feel of an episode of Let’s Make a Deal, with the defendants making submissions along the lines of ‘What if we only leased out premises and did not train the staff – would that be all right?’”
Branch said Minhas sought clarification on how to respect the injunction at the Pine Centre Clinic, noting there had been discussions between the parties “as to how or if the defendant should extract himself from the operation of the Pine Centre Clinic.”
But Branch said the court was not provided enough detail to issue guidance.
He did make a limited clarification, that the standard form franchise agreement in Minhas’s Jan. 10 affidavit was within the scope of his Nov. 1 court order.
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