Dr. Igor Wilderman

Following a jury trial for a motor vehicle accident where the plaintiff was awarded $7,500 in general damages, the defendants brought a threshold motion.

The court first determined that the threshold motion was moot because the jury's award would be entirely eliminated by the statutory deductible under the Insurance Act, resulting in a net recovery of $0.

In the alternative, the court analyzed the medical evidence and found the plaintiff's credibility to be poor due to significant omissions in her medical history regarding pre-existing conditions like fibromyalgia and depression.

The court concluded the plaintiff failed to prove on a balance of probabilities that she sustained a permanent, serious impairment of an important function caused by the accident.

The motion was dismissed.

The defendant brought a motion for summary judgment to dismiss the plaintiff's motor vehicle accident claim based on the expiry of the limitation period.

On the eve of the motion, the defendant abandoned it, and the parties attended a hearing solely to determine costs.

The plaintiff sought costs on a substantial indemnity basis, arguing the motion was unreasonable from the outset because the permanency of her injuries was not discoverable until a later medical report was obtained.

The court found no reason to depart from the presumption under Rule 37.09(3) that the responding party is entitled to costs of an abandoned motion.

However, the court declined to award substantial indemnity costs, finding no bad faith or egregious conduct by the defendant.

Costs were fixed at $12,500 on a partial indemnity basis.