Cynthia Rochelle Cooper Sefton

The appellants, plaintiffs in the underlying action, brought a motion before a single judge of the Court of Appeal seeking an order to compel the Regional Senior Judge to set an expedited four-week trial date.

This motion followed a previous Court of Appeal order that had set aside a partial summary judgment and directed the action to be restored to the trial list on an expedited basis.

The appellants argued that the action had not been restored as ordered.

The motion judge, assuming jurisdiction without deciding the *functus officio* argument, dismissed the motion.

The judge found that the previous order had not been breached and emphasized the inappropriateness of interfering with the trial judge's ongoing case management, who was actively preparing the case for trial.

The appellants appealed a partial summary judgment dismissing their action against Enbridge Inc. and Enbridge Solutions Inc. The Court of Appeal found that the motion judge erred by allowing the summary judgment motion to proceed on the eve of a scheduled ten-week trial, causing unnecessary delay and expense.

Furthermore, the Court held that the motion judge erred in concluding there was no genuine issue requiring a trial regarding Enbridge Inc.'s direct duty of care to the appellants, particularly concerning its public statements and policies on supervising its subsidiaries and contractors.

The appeal was allowed, the summary judgment and costs order were set aside, and the action was restored for trial.