Chris Cheung

The Plaintiff, Lisa Jagan, sought costs on a full indemnity basis after the Defendant, The Personal Insurance Company, abandoned its summary judgment motion.

The original summary judgment motion was deemed inappropriate by the court due to genuine issues requiring a trial.

The court awarded the Plaintiff partial costs for expert reports and legal fees, finding that while some work would be repurposed, a significant portion was "thrown away" due to the ill-conceived motion.

The court emphasized that costs "thrown away" are generally payable on a full or substantial indemnity basis but must be reasonable and genuinely wasted.

The plaintiff brought a motion to amend its Amended Fresh as Amended Statement of Claim to add a claim for punitive and exemplary damages arising from the defendant insurer’s handling of an insurance claim.

The defendant opposed the amendment, arguing that it introduced a new cause of action outside the applicable limitation period and that no consent had been provided.

The court held that the proposed amendment alleged a new cause of action based on breach of a duty of good faith in the investigation and assessment of the claim.

The existing pleadings did not contain sufficient factual allegations to support punitive damages without the proposed amendment.

As the amendment was brought well after the limitation period expired and did not merely add an alternative remedy based on already pleaded facts, leave to amend was refused.