Elizabeth Quigley

The plaintiff sought costs on a partial indemnity scale after successfully certifying her action as a class proceeding and defeating the defendant's motion for summary judgment.

The defendant argued that costs should be reduced or not awarded because the plaintiff failed to obtain a reverse summary judgment and the class definition was narrowed.

The court found the plaintiff was substantially successful and awarded costs of $300,000 plus HST and disbursements, slightly reduced from the claimed amount to reflect the lack of success on the reverse summary judgment request.

The plaintiff brought a motion to certify a class proceeding against Sun Life, alleging it incorrectly calculated long-term disability benefits by wrongfully deducting the inflation component from CPP and PSSA benefits.

Sun Life argued the plaintiff failed to meet the certification criteria.

The court found the pleadings disclosed a reasonable cause of action for breach of contract, though not for punitive damages.

The court amended the class definition to include a temporal limit based on the ultimate limitation period and certified the action, finding a class proceeding to be the preferable procedure.

The defendant, Sun Life, brought a motion for summary judgment in a class proceeding regarding the calculation of annual indexing increases on long-term disability benefits.

The plaintiff argued for a reverse summary judgment.

The court found that the interpretation of the policy and the correct methodology to calculate the annual indexing of benefits where 'other income' is deducted raised a genuine issue requiring a trial.

The court dismissed both the defendant's motion for summary judgment and the plaintiff's request for a reverse summary judgment.

The plaintiffs, who suffered catastrophic injuries in a motor vehicle accident, brought a motion to strike the jury notice due to the suspension of civil jury trials during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The defendants brought a cross-motion to adjourn the trial because the pandemic interfered with their ability to obtain responding medical reports.

The court granted the adjournment for six months to allow the defendants to obtain their medical assessments.

However, the court also struck the jury notice, finding that the indefinite delay of jury trials would cause undue financial prejudice to the plaintiffs, whose accident benefits were nearly exhausted.

Following a prior judgment finding the defendants liable for a fraudulent carpet supply scheme, the court issued supplementary reasons clarifying how the plaintiff must elect judgment between an undisclosed principal and its agents for contract damages while allowing fraud-based damages to be enforced against all defendants.

The court explained the composition of the compensatory damages award and confirmed that only the contract-based component required an election of judgment.

In determining costs, the court considered the discretion under s. 131 of the Courts of Justice Act and Rule 57 of the Rules of Civil Procedure.

Given the defendants’ fraudulent conduct and the complexity and length of the litigation, the court concluded that full indemnity costs were justified.

The plaintiff was awarded $630,475.47 in costs jointly and severally against the defendants.

Following a nine‑week jury trial arising from a motor vehicle accident, the plaintiffs obtained a damages award substantially lower than the amount claimed.

The defendants relied on Rule 49.10(2) of the Rules of Civil Procedure and argued they were entitled to partial indemnity costs from the date of a pre‑trial offer to settle because the judgment was allegedly less favourable than their offer.

The court held that although the offer met the timing requirement, the offer’s treatment of prejudgment interest on a lump‑sum amount was ambiguous and incapable of precise calculation for mixed heads of damages attracting different statutory interest rates under the Courts of Justice Act.

Because the offer lacked sufficient certainty to trigger the Rule 49 cost consequences, the defendants failed to meet their burden under Rule 49.10(3).

Considering the Rule 57 factors and the circumstances of the litigation, the court awarded the plaintiffs their partial indemnity costs throughout the proceeding.