I. Corneil

The defendants brought a motion for leave to serve a responding expert report regarding future care costs after the court-ordered deadline had passed.

The plaintiffs opposed the motion, arguing prejudice and undue delay.

The court granted the motion, finding that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate prejudice, as the trial had already been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, the court ordered the defendants to pay costs of $2,000 to the plaintiffs due to their cavalier attitude toward court orders.

A third party in a motor vehicle negligence action brought a motion for summary judgment seeking dismissal of a contribution and indemnity claim against him.

The motion arose from a collision involving two drivers where the only witnesses were the occupants of the vehicles and their versions of events were directly contradictory.

The court applied the test for summary judgment articulated in Combined Air Mechanical Services Inc. v. Flesch and held that the case required the benefits of the trial process to properly assess credibility and draw factual inferences.

Given the absence of independent witnesses and physical evidence, credibility determinations could not be made on the motion record.

The motion was therefore dismissed and the third party claim was allowed to proceed to trial.