The defendants, Garry Shapiro and Kaveh Najafi, brought motions to dismiss the plaintiff's claim.
Shapiro sought to set aside a noting of default and dismiss the action as an abuse of process and statute-barred under the Limitations Act, 2002, based on a prior dismissed action from 2011.
Najafi sought to strike the statement of claim, arguing it was statute-barred.
The court found that the 2015 action was not an abuse of process as the prior action was not decided on its merits.
Regarding the limitation period, the court applied Section 11 of the Limitations Act, 2002, finding that the family law proceedings between the plaintiff and Najafi, which resulted in a Family Order in 2014, suspended the limitation period.
The Family Order also created new rights and obligations, giving rise to fresh causes of action.
The court also noted the potential applicability of the Real Property Limitations Act, which provides a ten-year limitation period.
Consequently, the defendants failed to establish that the 2015 action was statute-barred.
The motions to dismiss were largely dismissed, with the exception of setting aside the noting in default against Shapiro by consent.
