Jeremy J. Lum-Danson

The defendant landlord brought a motion for summary judgment to dismiss the plaintiffs' action for wrongful termination of a commercial lease.

The defendant argued that the corporate plaintiff was not a party to the lease and the personal plaintiff could not claim damages suffered by the corporation under the rule in Foss v. Harbottle.

The court found that while the current pleadings did not support an independent claim for the personal plaintiff, dismissing the action would allow the defendant to escape liability for an alleged breach.

The court adjourned the motion for two months to allow the plaintiffs to amend their statement of claim.

A non-party corporation brought a motion to set aside default judgments obtained against an individual for unpaid legal fees.

The moving party argued the judgments were invalid because the legal services were allegedly provided to a corporation rather than the individual personally, and that the default judgments undermined its defence in related mortgage litigation.

The court held that the moving party lacked standing because the default judgments affected it only indirectly as a creditor and it had no relationship with the defendant.

In any event, the motion was brought after significant delay, provided no explanation for the defendant’s default, and the deemed admissions in the statement of claim were sufficient to support the judgments.

The motion was dismissed with costs.