Dan Malone

The appellants appealed an order declaring them vexatious litigants under s. 140 of the Courts of Justice Act.

The application judge found that the individual appellant, who was the sole officer and employee of the corporate appellant, had serially engaged in vexatious litigation since 2017, including bringing proceedings outside the court's jurisdiction and failing to pay significant costs awards.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding no error in the application judge's application of the relevant factors and concluding that the order against both the corporation and the individual directing its litigation was entirely justified.

The court declared Glycobiosciences Inc. and Kevin Drizen vexatious litigants under section 140 of the Courts of Justice Act.

The decision reviews a lengthy history of litigation by Glyco and Drizen, noting repeated unsuccessful actions, disregard for adverse rulings, and failure to pay costs.

The court imposed restrictions on their ability to commence or continue proceedings in Ontario without leave, and stayed all ongoing matters.

The reasons also address the legal test for vexatious litigant status and the balancing of access to justice with the need to protect the court system from abuse.

This is a panel review by the Ontario Court of Appeal of a single-judge motion decision that denied leave for a non-lawyer, Mr. Drizen, to represent the corporate appellant, GlycoBioSciences Inc. (Glyco), under Rule 15.01(2) of the Rules of Civil Procedure.

The underlying appeals involved disputes over contracts with arbitration or forum selection clauses not favouring Ontario, and had been dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.

The motion judge had denied leave due to uncertainty regarding Glyco's financial position and concerns about Mr. Drizen's past conduct.

The Court of Appeal dismissed Glyco's motion, upholding the motion judge's discretionary decision, finding no error in principle, unreasonable result, or legal error.

The court reiterated that Glyco must appoint a solicitor within 30 days, failing which its appeals would be administratively dismissed, and ordered Glyco to pay partial indemnity costs to the responding parties.

The applicant, Glycobiosciences Inc., sought leave for its non-lawyer principal, Kevin Drizen, to represent it in a separate action against the respondents.

The court dismissed the application, finding it procedurally improper as such relief must be sought by interlocutory motion within the existing action, not a new application.

The court also deemed the application an abuse of process, particularly given a recent Court of Appeal ruling denying Mr. Drizen similar leave.

Substantial indemnity costs were awarded to the respondents.

Glycobiosciences Inc. (Glyco) sought leave for its non-lawyer president, Kevin Drizen, to represent the corporation in an application before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

This application sought the same relief previously denied by the Federal Court, specifically an order requiring L'Oreal to delete confidential information.

The court dismissed the motion, affirming that corporations must generally be represented by lawyers and that the desire to save legal fees does not constitute a barrier to access to justice.

The court also noted Mr. Drizen's history of unsuccessful litigation and abuse of process in previous related matters.

This motion concerned an application by a non-lawyer, Mr. Drizen, for leave to represent the corporate appellant, GlycoBioSciences Inc., in an appeal, pursuant to Rule 15.01(2) of the Rules of Civil Procedure.

The responding parties also brought a motion for security for costs.

The court dismissed the non-lawyer's motion for leave, emphasizing that corporate representation by a non-lawyer is exceptional and discretionary.

The court found that the applicant failed to meet the burden of establishing that leave should be granted, noting concerns about the corporation's financial affairs, past litigation conduct, and the non-lawyer's performance, which did not support an access to justice argument.