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The court granted default judgment and awarded $90,000 in punitive damages against a cyber fraudster.
The plaintiff, Ameresco Canada Inc., moved for default judgment against the defendant, Bernard Christopher, who was noted in default for failing to file a defence.
The defendant had defrauded the plaintiff of $911,528.44 through cyber fraud, by intercepting email communications and directing the plaintiff to wire payments to his personal account.
The plaintiff recovered $764,613.45.
The court granted default judgment, including pre-judgment and post-judgment interest.
The court awarded $90,000 in punitive damages, emphasizing the severity of cyber fraud and the need for disincentive.
Costs were fixed at $6,000, including disbursements and HST, noting that costs for prior procedural orders were not awarded.
Appeal allowed striking a condition that prohibited defendants from calling accident benefits experts at trial.
The defendants appealed a condition imposed by a motions judge on an order compelling the plaintiff to attend defence medical examinations.
The plaintiff, injured in a motor vehicle accident, had previously been examined by experts retained by the statutory accident benefits insurer.
The motions judge upheld the order for tort medical examinations but added a condition prohibiting the defendants from calling the accident benefits experts at trial.
The Divisional Court allowed the appeal and struck the condition, finding that the motions judge erred by interfering with the Master's discretion without finding an error in principle, and by preempting the trial judge's statutory discretion regarding the number of expert witnesses.
