The plaintiff brought a motion for partial summary judgment seeking a determination that the commissioning stage of a contract for the design, manufacture and supply of aggregate processing equipment had been completed, thereby entitling it to payment of the final invoice.
The defendant opposed the motion and advanced a substantial counterclaim alleging negligence and breach of contract.
The court conducted a case management conference to triage the motion in accordance with the Malik v. Attia framework, which requires consideration of whether partial summary judgment would achieve proportionate, timely, and affordable justice.
The court declined to permit the partial summary judgment motion to proceed, finding that the issues were too intertwined and that determining the commissioning stage in isolation would not advance the litigation in an abbreviated fashion.
