The City of Hamilton commenced an action against the architect and general contractor of an arena project for construction defects.
After years of inaction, the action was dismissed for delay by the registrar when the City's counsel inadvertently failed to attend a status hearing.
The City's motion to set aside the dismissal was denied by the motion judge.
On appeal, the Court of Appeal upheld the dismissal, finding that the 15-year delay was inordinately long, the critical five-and-a-half-year period of inaction was unexplained, and the delay caused actual prejudice to the defendants due to the unavailability and faded memories of key witnesses.
