I. De Rijcke

Following a trial concerning a possessory land claim, the successful party sought costs and the court initiated a Rule 57.07 inquiry regarding whether the opposing party’s lawyer should personally bear responsibility for wasted costs.

The court first rejected a recusal motion alleging reasonable apprehension of bias, applying the test from Wewaykum and concluding that prior findings and procedural steps did not create a reasonable apprehension of bias.

On the merits, the court applied the two‑step framework from Galganov v. Russell (Township) to determine whether the lawyer caused unnecessary costs and whether a personal costs order was warranted.

The court found the lawyer knowingly or negligently presented an expert witness whose lack of impartiality was evident, resulting in significant wasted trial time.

Exercising its discretion, the court ordered the lawyer to reimburse the client for 20% of the $490,000 costs award and to pay additional costs for the Rule 57.07 hearing.

The possessory claimant brought a motion to stay a new trial or, in the alternative, for security for costs, following a successful appeal that ordered a re-trial due to apprehension of judicial bias.

The objector brought a cross-motion for security for costs.

The court noted that both parties had achieved parallel success in previous proceedings and faced similar risks of losing their properties to pay litigation costs.

Finding that a stay would deny access to justice and that neither party should be given an advantage under the rules, the court dismissed both the motion and the cross-motion.