Premium Tire: what it cost Bridgestone to keep its tires out

On September 8, 2026, Justice Sean Dunphy appointed msi Spergel inc. receiver and manager of Premium Tire Sales & Service Ltd., which operates as Premium Tire Distributors and Premium Tire & Auto Centre, on the application of Royal Bank of Canada under s. 243(1) of the BIA and s. 101 of the Courts of Justice Act. The appointment covers all of the debtor's assets, undertakings and properties — "specifically excluding the tire inventory and all proceeds in which Bridgestone Canada Inc. has a perfected security interest," secured by a general security agreement dated July 13, 2008 and amended by a letter agreement dated July 24, 2012, per the Order of Dunphy J., Sept. 8, 2026, para. 2.

A week to work out the interplay

The application had been before the court once already. "This motion to appoint a receiver was adjourned last week," the endorsement begins, "to permit the parties to negotiate the inteplay between the proposed receiver and its authority vis a vis Bridgestone who has prior ranking security to the applicant bank on certain inventory supplied by it," per the Endorsement of Dunphy J., Sept. 8, 2026, para. 1.

That is the whole problem in one sentence, and it is a common one wherever a supplier finances the goods on the floor. A receiver appointed over all of a distributor's assets takes possession of inventory in which someone else ranks first. It must then hold, insure, count and eventually release goods it has no economic interest in, at the estate's expense, while the party who does have the interest waits.

The adjournment worked. "The parties have used the adjournment time profitably," Justice Dunphy wrote. "The form of the proposed order has now been satisfactorily amended and is not opposed by either the respondent debtor or Bridgestone." He compared the order and the application material to the Commercial List's model order and was satisfied this was an appropriate case for a court appointment — "as indeed the disputes since resolved with Bridgestone has highlighted" — signed the amended order and uploaded it that morning, thanking counsel for their efficient cooperation, per the Endorsement of Dunphy J., Sept. 8, 2026, paras. 2–3.

The two paragraphs at the back

The carve-out in paragraph 2 is the visible half of the bargain. The other half sits at the end of the order, after the cross-border recognition provisions, in two paragraphs that do not appear in the model order at all.

Paragraph 33 requires Bridgestone Canada Inc. to pay the receiver "all reasonable Receiver costs and disbursements incurred to facilitate and supervise the removal of Bridgestone Inventory from the Debtor's business premises," per the Order of Dunphy J., Sept. 8, 2026, para. 33. The estate does not fund the extraction of goods that will never be part of it.

Paragraph 34 goes further. If the debtor turns out to owe priority claims — deemed trusts under the Income Tax Act, the Excise Tax Act or the Wage Earner Protection Program Act — Bridgestone must pay the receiver "a pro rata amount (based on their net recovery in relation to the other secured creditors of the Debtor) to reimburse the Receiver for Priority Claims," per the Order of Dunphy J., Sept. 8, 2026, para. 34. A secured creditor that steps outside the receivership with its collateral does not thereby step outside the statutory claims that rank ahead of everybody; it contributes to them in proportion to what it takes out.

What the receiver got

On the rest of the estate the order is the model order. Spergel may market and sell property out of the ordinary course without returning to court for any transaction up to $350,000, provided all such transactions together stay under $5,000,000, per the Order of Dunphy J., Sept. 8, 2026, para. 3(k)(i). It has a Receiver's Charge for its own and its counsel's fees, ranking as a first charge ahead of all other security subject to the BIA's own priorities, and a Receiver's Borrowings Charge securing borrowings up to $500,000 of outstanding principal, ranking behind the first, per the Order of Dunphy J., Sept. 8, 2026, paras. 18, 21. Proceedings against the debtor and the property are stayed pending further order; employees remain employees of the debtor until the receiver terminates them; a case website is to go up at spergelcorporate.ca/engagements, per the Order of Dunphy J., Sept. 8, 2026, paras. 9, 14, 25.

Royal Bank has its costs of the application to entry and service, on the terms of its security or, failing that, on a substantial indemnity basis, payable by the receiver out of the estate, per the Order of Dunphy J., Sept. 8, 2026, para. 31.

The order was made on the affidavit of David Jenkins sworn August 26, 2026, on the affidavit of service of Adam Bovaird sworn the same day, and on Spergel's consent to act. Counsel for the applicant, the debtor and Bridgestone were heard; the debtor did not oppose; nobody else on the service list appeared, per the Order of Dunphy J., Sept. 8, 2026, recitals.

What the two documents on the file do not say is what Premium Tire is: how many bays or warehouses it runs, how many people it employs, what it owes Royal Bank, what the Bridgestone inventory is worth, or what went wrong. The Jenkins affidavit that would answer all of that is not on the public record read for this piece. No return date is set, and no first report is scheduled; the receiver passes its accounts before a Commercial List judge from time to time, and any interested party may move to vary the order on seven days' notice.