F. Leitch

The plaintiffs brought a motion for the production of a reporting letter sent by the defendants' former solicitor regarding an asset sale transaction.

The plaintiffs claimed the letter was relevant to prove the existence of a $250,000 promissory note, which the defendants denied existed.

The defendants opposed production on the grounds of relevance and solicitor-client privilege.

The court found the letter relevant to the plaintiffs' claim and held that statements of fact within the letter regarding the delivery of the note were not protected by privilege.

The court ordered the letter to be produced to the court in a sealed envelope for redaction of any privileged legal advice before disclosure.

The plaintiff challenged the validity of her late husband's 2009 corporate and personal wills, arguing he lacked testamentary capacity due to organic brain disease caused by chronic alcoholism.

The deceased had left his entire estate, consisting primarily of a 50% interest in a farm corporation, to his brother and business partner.

The court found that while the plaintiff established suspicious circumstances due to the deceased's alcoholism, the propounder of the wills successfully proved the deceased met the test for testamentary capacity.

The wills were declared valid and remitted to probate.