Boris Alexander

The defendant, Covenant Group Ltd., brought a motion for interim recovery of personal property from a Royal Bank of Canada account and a Norwich order requiring RBC to provide banking records.

The underlying action was a wrongful dismissal claim by the plaintiff, Santina Calisto, against Covenant, with Covenant counterclaiming for fraud alleging funds were diverted to a fraudulently created account.

Neither the plaintiff nor RBC opposed the motion.

The court granted the Norwich order and an order freezing the account, but adjourned the motion for interim recovery of personal property.

The interim recovery was adjourned because the party who opened the account was not before the court, and the court required Covenant to first determine the account holder's identity and serve them before returning to argue the recovery motion.

The parties settled a wrongful dismissal action for $15,000 but could not agree on costs.

The plaintiff sought costs, while the defendant argued no costs should be awarded due to the plaintiff's conduct and the small settlement amount.

The court found the defendant fought the case aggressively and that a plaintiff in a wrongful dismissal action should reasonably expect partial indemnity costs.

The court awarded the plaintiff $30,000 in costs, inclusive of a $3,000 deduction for the defendant's costs of finalizing the settlement.