Faren Hillary Bogach

The appellant appealed a judgment declaring him to be a vexatious litigant pursuant to section 140 of the Courts of Justice Act.

The Court of Appeal found no error in the application judge's thorough reasons explaining the factual and legal grounds for the declaration.

The appeal was dismissed with costs awarded to the respondents.

The appellants appealed the dismissal of their summary judgment motion regarding property damage allegedly caused by the negligent construction of neighbouring homes.

They argued the motions judge failed to apply the new, more flexible Rule 20 of the Rules of Civil Procedure and provided inadequate reasons.

The Divisional Court agreed the reasons were inadequate but upheld the dismissal, finding significant conflicting evidence regarding personal liability, independent contractor liability, and damages that required a trial.

The appellants, a bank and a payment processor, appealed a trial judgment finding them liable for improperly debiting the respondent merchant's bank account for MasterCard fines and credit card replacement costs.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding that the payment processor was not merely an agent of the bank and that the merchant agreements, which were contracts of adhesion, did not contain provisions making the merchant liable for the specific fines or replacement costs.

Furthermore, the bank failed to prove that the merchant's conduct caused the need to replace the credit cards.

The plaintiffs sought leave to appeal an order dismissing their motion for summary judgment regarding property damage caused by the defendants' construction.

The motions judge had dismissed the summary judgment motion with a one-sentence endorsement citing 'numerous conflicts in the evidence' without further explanation.

The Divisional Court granted leave to appeal, finding good reason to doubt the correctness of the order due to the inadequacy of the reasons provided and the failure to apply the newly amended Rule 20 for summary judgments.