Brendon Jones

Following the dismissal of the plaintiff's action by summary judgment, the successful defendants sought costs on a substantial or full indemnity basis.

The plaintiff had alleged that the defendants conspired to conceal noise from idling trains and made fraudulent misrepresentations regarding a commercial sublease.

The court held that the plaintiff's unproven allegations of fraud and dishonesty justified an award of substantial indemnity costs.

Applying the overriding principle of reasonableness, the court awarded costs of $66,521.61 to the defendant real estate broker and $198,000 to the defendant accounting firm.

The plaintiff sublessee brought an action against the defendant sublessor and its real estate broker, alleging they fraudulently concealed a latent defect regarding excessive noise from idling trains at the adjacent Union Station.

The defendants brought motions for summary judgment to dismiss the action.

The court granted the motions, finding that the train noise was a patent defect, not a latent one, and there was no evidence of a conspiracy to conceal it.

Furthermore, the plaintiff had acknowledged the proximity to the train station and agreed to an exculpatory clause in the lease that shielded the defendants from liability for train noise.