Isha Wadhwa

The applicant was successful on a motion for the sale of the matrimonial home and sought costs of $8,000.

The respondent opposed, citing her unemployment and the applicant's failure to pay support.

The court fixed costs at $6,500, finding the respondent's resistance to the sale unreasonable but reducing the amount to exclude time spent on a related support motion.

Given the applicant's substantial admitted support arrears, the court ordered that the costs not be payable until all issues in the case are finally resolved to allow for potential set-off.

The applicant father brought a motion for the sale of the jointly-owned matrimonial home.

The parties separated in 2017 and the respondent mother remained in the home.

The court found no malicious, vexatious, or oppressive conduct by the applicant that would defeat his prima facie right to a sale under the Partition Act.

The court ordered the home to be listed and sold, with a $100,000 holdback from the applicant's share of the net proceeds to secure arrears of child and spousal support.

The appellant, an egg producer, appealed a motion judge's decision dismissing its motion to belatedly comply with a 2013 judgment order requiring payment into court.

The appellant had failed to pay the judgment funds into court, failed to bring a motion to add respondents as defendants to a related action, and took no further steps to advance its counterclaim for five years.

When the appellant finally returned to court in 2018, it sought permission to proceed with the counterclaim and amend it.

The motion judge applied the test from Rule 48 (dismissal for delay), placing the onus on the appellant to establish an acceptable explanation for the delay and that respondents would suffer no non-compensable prejudice.

The motion judge found the appellant's explanation inadequate and concluded actual prejudice existed.

The Court of Appeal upheld the dismissal, finding no error in the motion judge's legal test or factual findings.