Francesco Deo

Following a successful application to enforce an arbitral award requiring a unit owner to replace defective Kitec pipes, the condominium corporation sought full indemnity costs.

The court rejected the argument that the condominium's governing documents automatically entitled it to full indemnity costs, finding that the court retains jurisdiction to determine appropriate costs.

However, the court awarded full indemnity costs of $71,120.97 based on the unit owner's unreasonable refusal to cooperate and his abusive litigation conduct, which included making unfounded allegations and repeatedly ignoring court orders and procedures.

The applicant condominium corporation brought a motion for summary judgment to enforce a lien against the respondent unit owner for unpaid common expenses.

On the eve of the hearing, the respondent paid the outstanding common expenses and interest, leaving only the issue of legal costs to be resolved.

The condominium sought to include its full legal costs of $56,327.33 in the certificate of lien pursuant to section 85(3) of the Condominium Act.

The court found that the respondent's history of non-payment, her meritless defence and counterclaim, and her failure to make meaningful settlement efforts justified the full amount.

The court ordered the respondent to pay the full $56,327.33 in legal costs.

The Toronto Standard Condominium Corporation No. 1466 (the "Condominium") sought to enforce an arbitration award compelling a unit owner, Stuart Weinstein, to replace defective Kitec pipes in his unit and pay associated costs.

Mr. Weinstein brought a counter-application to set aside the arbitral award, arguing lack of jurisdiction, bias, and fraud/corruption, and to remove a lien registered on his property for unpaid costs.

The court found Mr. Weinstein's application to set aside the award was out of time and, in the alternative, dismissed it on its merits, finding no evidence of jurisdictional error, bias, fraud, or corruption.

The court also upheld the validity of the lien, despite an arbitrator's error in including mediation costs in the arbitration award, as the Condominium's declaration and by-laws independently allowed for such costs to be treated as common expenses.

The Condominium's application to enforce the arbitral award was granted.