Anthea Yick Cheung Chan

The plaintiffs, Catherine Cormier and Carol Weir, brought a civil suit after a car crash.

The case stalled due to concerns that Ms. Weir, 85 and with dementia, required a litigation guardian.

An unopposed motion for a guardian was brought, but an associate judge questioned its necessity.

The plaintiffs then sought a case conference to confirm a settlement and dispense with the guardian.

The court found that no litigation guardian or motion was ever required, as Ms. Weir did not meet the legal test for mental incapacity under the Substitute Decisions Act, 1992, for the purpose of managing her legal affairs.

The court emphasized that inability to remember accident details or manage daily living does not automatically deprive a litigant of autonomy to instruct counsel and settle.

The settlement was formalized based on the plaintiffs' instructions.

The defendant daycare brought a motion for summary judgment in a negligence action after a three-year-old child broke his arm falling from a play structure.

The court dismissed the motion, finding that the issues of supervision adequacy, staff training, and policy implementation required significant credibility assessments and a highly contextual legal analysis, making the case unsuitable for resolution via summary judgment.

The court emphasized the difficulty of assessing credibility on a paper record, particularly when the injured child could not provide evidence, and declined to order a mini-trial.