The plaintiff moved to set aside a registrar's order dismissing the action for delay.
The delay was largely attributed to the plaintiff's former counsel, who had been caring for her terminally ill husband and inadvertently missed the deadline to set the action down for trial.
The court applied the Reid criteria contextually, finding that while the delay was not fully explained, it was due to inadvertence rather than contumacious conduct.
The court also found the defendants suffered no significant prejudice, noting that their destruction of relevant files shortly after the dismissal was a self-inflicted wound.
The motion was granted, the dismissal order was set aside, and the plaintiff was awarded costs of $15,000.
