Christopher Wayland

The plaintiff, Ontario, brought a motion for leave to amend its statement of claim to increase damages, provide further particulars of alleged kickback schemes, and add additional defendants in a civil fraud action.

The defendants and proposed added defendants opposed the motion, arguing the proposed amendments lacked particularity, used vague 'and/or' formulations, and failed to meet the minimum level of material fact disclosure.

The court agreed that several proposed paragraphs were deficient as they did not clearly identify which allegations were made against which specific defendants.

The motion was dismissed, but the plaintiff was granted leave to renew its motion with a properly drafted amended pleading.

The plaintiff's action regarding a cancelled wind power project was dismissed after a 10-year litigation.

The successful defendant sought costs on a substantial indemnity basis, relying on an offer to settle for $78,000 which the plaintiff had rejected.

The court applied Rule 49 and awarded substantial indemnity costs, but exercised its discretion to reduce the requested fees by nearly half due to the plaintiff's misfortune in dealing with the government's policy reversals.

The plaintiff was ordered to pay $300,000 in fees and $457,486.89 in disbursements.

The plaintiff sued the provincial government after a moratorium on offshore wind projects was announced on the exact day the plaintiff's project financing was set to close.

The plaintiff alleged the government intentionally timed the announcement to deprive it of litigation resources, and further claimed spoliation of evidence due to the government's deletion of senior staff emails.

The court granted summary judgment dismissing the action, finding no evidence the government knew of the financing timing and concluding the email destruction, while improper, was a routine practice not aimed at this specific litigation.

Two competing class counsel groups sought carriage of a proposed class action against the Province of Ontario regarding COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care homes.

The Nisbet Action proposed suing Ontario solely for its several liability to avoid third-party claims and expedite certification.

The Robertson Action proposed a conventional joint and several liability approach, expecting third-party claims between Ontario and long-term care operators.

The court granted carriage to the Robertson Action, finding that the several liability approach offered no early-stage advantage and would create significant disadvantages in later-stage litigation, including potential unfairness to the defendant and risks of unrecovered losses for class members.

The defendant brought a motion for leave under Rule 48.04 to seek leave to amend its statement of defence under Rule 26.02(c), as the action had already been set down for trial.

The plaintiff opposed the motion, arguing that the delay in seeking the amendments was inordinate and presumed prejudice.

The court held that the mandatory language of Rule 26.01 governed, requiring amendments to be allowed unless there is non-compensable prejudice.

Finding no prejudice that could not be compensated in costs, the court granted the defendant leave to bring the motion and leave to amend the pleading.