Elliott Birnboim

The appellant corporation appealed an Associate Justice's decision dismissing its motion under Rule 15.01(2) to be represented by a non-lawyer employee.

The Superior Court of Justice applied the palpable and overriding error standard of review.

The court upheld the Associate Justice's application of the Astrochrome test, finding no error in the determination that the proposed representative was not duly authorized by the board of directors and that it would be unfair to allow the representation.

The appeal was dismissed.

The Court of Appeal for Ontario granted the moving party's motion for security for costs of an appeal.

The appellant, Rosetta Commisso, was found to be impecunious and there was good reason to believe her appeal, challenging factual findings of a summary judgment dismissing her trust claims against her former mother-in-law, was frivolous and vexatious.

The court applied the two-part test under Rule 61.06(1)(a) of the Rules of Civil Procedure and Rule 38(26) of the Family Law Rules, emphasizing the holistic consideration of justice.

The appeal was deemed to lack merit as it primarily challenged factual findings rather than errors of law, and partial summary judgment was found appropriate.

The respondent in a family law proceeding brought a motion for extensive financial disclosure from the applicant, including business records, bank statements, and property valuations.

The applicant argued she did not keep business records after 2015 because she was exempt from filing income tax returns under the Indian Act.

The court granted the motion, holding that while the applicant may not have to keep records for tax purposes, she is still obligated to produce proper accounting records and valuations for the family law proceeding to determine income and property division.

The plaintiff brought motions to discontinue the action against an individual defendant, to certify the action as a class proceeding, and for partial summary judgment.

The court approved the discontinuance as it did not prejudice the class and secured the corporate defendant's consent to certification.

The court certified the class action against the remaining defendants, finding that the pleadings disclosed causes of action under the Consumer Protection Act and Competition Act, and that a class proceeding was the preferable procedure.

However, the court dismissed the plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment, concluding that the nature of the relationship between the defendants and the interpretation of the statutory provisions raised genuine issues requiring a full trial.

The defendant, Mary Fatima DeMelo, brought a motion seeking disbursement of $488,348.75 from the proceeds of her former matrimonial home's sale and a seven-day suspension of a writ of possession held by CIBC Mortgages Inc. She argued that CIBC acted in bad faith by holding proceeds from one property (Binns) while also having security on another (Greenvalley), and by not paying funds into court as per a freezing order.

CIBC contended it was entitled to execute its writ against any of the defendant's assets and was not obligated to withdraw its writ or take a chance on future repayment from the Greenvalley property sale, which had deficiencies.

The court dismissed the defendant's motion, finding that CIBC was entitled to file and execute its writ and that holding the sale proceeds did not constitute bad faith, as CIBC was a secured creditor not required to take a chance on future repayment.

Appeal from trial judge's decisions regarding spousal and child support, and division of family home value in a common-law relationship of over 16 years.

The trial judge found a joint family venture and awarded the respondent $595,530 as her share of the family home, imputed $150,000 annual income to the appellant, and ordered costs of $280,000.

The appellate court allowed the appeal in part, reducing the respondent's share to $527,000 by deducting the outstanding mortgage balance, but upheld the imputation of income and dismissed the cross-appeal and motion for leave to appeal costs.