Does a judgment creditor's writ of seizure and sale rank ahead of a registered PPSA security interest?

Generally, no. A judgment creditor is someone who has sued a corporation, obtained a court judgment, and can then have the sheriff issue a writ of seizure and sale against the corporation's property to enforce that judgment. A properly perfected security interest under Ontario's Personal Property Security Act generally ranks ahead of a judgment creditor's later writ, because the secured lender's interest in the collateral already existed and was perfected before the writ came into play — the judgment creditor generally can only reach whatever value remains in the debtor's property once the secured creditor's claim is satisfied, not the collateral free and clear.

Timing is what actually decides close cases. The analysis depends on exactly when the security interest was perfected relative to when the writ was delivered to the sheriff for enforcement, so a judgment creditor moving quickly can sometimes get ahead of a lender that was slow to register, or whose interest was never perfected at all. Because this is a genuinely fact- and timing-sensitive priority contest rather than a simple default outcome, both a secured lender concerned about a competing judgment creditor and a judgment creditor trying to enforce against a corporation's assets should get legal advice on the specific timeline involved.