Colin Wright

The applicant beneficiary brought an application for directions regarding the passing of accounts in her late father's estate.

She challenged the estate trustee's claim for $28,409.29 in executor compensation and legal fees, arguing the trustee delayed producing accounts for nearly four years and failed to treat beneficiaries evenly.

The court agreed, finding the trustee was dilatory and lacked motivation to wind up the estate because she was living rent-free in an estate property.

The court reduced the executor's compensation to zero, reduced the legal fees to $3,750, and awarded costs to the applicant.

The plaintiff sought leave to amend her Statement of Claim to include a new cause of action under a second life insurance policy, beyond the presumptive two-year limitation period.

The court found that the plaintiff met the discoverability criteria under the Limitations Act, 2002, as the relevant underwriting documents were not disclosed until the defendants served their Affidavit of Documents.

However, the court refused the amendment, concluding that the proposed new cause of action was legally untenable because the insured had a clear duty to disclose a material change in health (a seizure) before the delivery of the policy, and the alleged ambiguity in the insurance documents was without merit.

The plaintiffs brought an action for damages and injunctive relief in nuisance against their neighbours, alleging that smoke and odour from the defendants' outdoor wood burning furnace interfered with the use and enjoyment of their property.

The plaintiffs suffered from severe, pre-existing respiratory illnesses.

The court applied the two-part test for private nuisance from Antrim Truck Centre, finding that while the interference might be substantial given the plaintiffs' special vulnerabilities, it failed the objective test of being unreasonable to an ordinary occupier.

The action was dismissed.

Following an earlier ruling on a motion, the court addressed a dispute concerning the allocation of agreed costs.

The parties agreed that $9,000 in costs would be payable to two respondents, but the applicants argued that additional respondents should share liability for those costs.

The court found that the additional respondents had been present only on a watching brief and were not part of the bifurcated application.

The court rejected the applicants’ position and ordered that those respondents should not share liability.

Instead, the applicants were ordered to pay additional costs to those respondents for having to participate in the costs submissions.

The applicants sought declarations that neighbouring landowners had no interest in their waterfront property and requested removal of a notice registered under s. 71 of the Land Titles Act claiming an unregistered right-of-way to the St. Lawrence River.

The respondents relied on historical deeds granting a 66‑foot right-of-way and a quitclaim deed confirming the easement.

The court held that the applicants’ predecessor had actual notice of the easement because the relevant instruments were registered within the 40‑year chain of title under the Registry Act.

The court further held that the description of the right-of-way was sufficiently certain and constituted a valid local description.

The applicants’ challenge to the easement therefore failed.

The moving party, the deceased's grandson and sole beneficiary, sought to be appointed as estate trustee pursuant to the deceased's will.

The respondent, who claimed to be the deceased's secret spouse, objected to the appointment based on the moving party's criminal record and a conflict of interest, as the respondent intended to make equalization and support claims against the estate.

The court found that while the moving party's criminal past alone might not disqualify him, his position as sole beneficiary created a significant conflict of interest with the respondent's claims against the estate.

The court passed over the moving party and appointed the lawyer who drafted the will as an independent estate trustee.