Colin P. Stevenson

The defendants brought a motion to stay the plaintiffs' action and refer the dispute to arbitration in Dubai, relying on the International Commercial Arbitration Act, 2017.

The dispute involved a shareholding agreement for a radiology clinic in Dubai, which contained an arbitration clause, and a related one-page guarantee document.

The court found that the claims arguably fell within the scope of the arbitration agreement and that the arbitrator should determine their own jurisdiction.

The motion was granted and the action was stayed.

This is an appeal by the defendants from an Associate Justice's order that dismissed their request to strike certain paragraphs from the Statement of Claim.

The impugned paragraphs alleged bad faith contractual performance by the defendants, specifically referencing an alleged campaign to damage the plaintiff, including encouraging a false accusation of sexual assault, following the plaintiff's departure from their accounting firm.

The defendants also sought to strike paragraphs related to "departure negotiations" on the basis of settlement privilege.

The court dismissed the appeal, affirming that the allegations of bad faith contractual performance were viable under Bhasin v. Hrynew and that the correspondence regarding departure negotiations was not presumptively privileged without evidence of intent to settle.

The plaintiff, Songfu Liu, sued his surgeon, Dr. Jonathan Chan, alleging fraudulent inducement to undergo unnecessary prostate surgery by manipulating test results.

Both parties brought motions for summary judgment.

The court found no evidence of fraud, confirming that Mr. Liu had prostate cancer and that the surgery was medically appropriate based on expert evidence.

The plaintiff's motion for summary judgment was dismissed, and the defendant's motion for summary judgment was granted, leading to the dismissal of the entire action.