David R. Richmon

The appellant was successful on an appeal of a Master's refusal to allow amendments to a Statement of Claim and sought costs.

The court awarded costs to the appellant for both the motion before the Master and the appeal, totaling $15,405.75.

However, the respondent successfully argued that the costs order should be stayed because the appellant had two outstanding costs orders against him in other proceedings totaling over $330,000.

The court stayed the costs order until the appellant paid the outstanding costs orders, noting that a party cannot seek the court's assistance while refusing to respect its previous orders.

The appellant appealed a Master's decision refusing leave to amend a Statement of Claim in a defamation action.

The proposed amendments sought to add specific defamatory words allegedly spoken by the respondent to the police.

The Master had ruled that adding the specific words constituted a new, statute-barred cause of action.

The Divisional Court allowed the appeal, applying a broader, factually-oriented approach to the definition of a 'cause of action'.

The Court found that the amendments were a continuation of the existing claim arising from the same factual matrix, and the respondent was not taken by surprise.