The defendants brought a motion under Rule 21.01 of the Rules of Civil Procedure to strike an amended statement of claim alleging negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, intrusion upon seclusion, conspiracy, and breach of contract arising from a fertility clinic nurse’s alleged affair with the plaintiff’s partner during treatment.
The court applied the “plain and obvious” test from R. v. Imperial Tobacco Ltd. and held that several claims disclosed arguable causes of action, particularly those grounded in fiduciary duty, professional negligence, breach of confidence, and privacy.
The court emphasized that novel claims arising in sensitive medical contexts should not be struck where they have a reasonable prospect of success and should instead proceed to trial for full evidentiary assessment.
However, certain allegations relating to the defendants’ failure to investigate or discipline the employee and irrelevant narrative material were struck as disclosing no reasonable cause of action or as scandalous pleadings under Rule 25.11.
The remainder of the motion to strike was dismissed.
