John C. Ritchie

Supplementary reasons regarding a sealing order and costs following an appeal.

The court varied the broad sealing orders made by the Master and a single judge, restricting the sealing order to only the inadvertently disclosed privileged document, as there was no demonstrable prejudice to justify sealing the entire court file.

The court also fixed the successful plaintiff's costs of the motion for leave to appeal and the appeal at $25,000 on a partial indemnity basis, declining to award substantial indemnity costs.

The defendant appealed a decision of a Superior Court judge that overturned a Master's order removing the plaintiff's solicitors of record.

The plaintiff's solicitors had inadvertently received a privileged opinion letter from the defendant's counsel.

Applying the test from Celanese Canada Inc., the Divisional Court found no real risk of material prejudice to the defendant, as the document could not be used at trial and the solicitor had not read the details.

The appeal was dismissed.