John Melia

The court-appointed Receiver and certain plaintiffs brought motions to interpret or amend a 2017 costs order made by Justice Kane.

The costs order, as drafted, appeared to make Carleton Condominium Corporation No. 396 (CCC 396) jointly and severally liable with the Burdet Group defendants to pay $410,000 in costs to the plaintiffs.

However, the same order also awarded CCC 396 $220,000 in costs payable by the plaintiffs.

The court found that the costs order contained an accidental omission and was inconsistent with Justice Kane's written costs decision.

Applying Rule 59.06 of the Rules of Civil Procedure, the court amended the costs order to explicitly exclude CCC 396 from the defendants liable to pay costs to the plaintiffs.

Following earlier rulings quashing garnishment notices issued against diplomatic bank accounts of a foreign state, the court determined the appropriate costs award.

The proceedings involved complex and novel issues of diplomatic immunity, state immunity, and international law relating to enforcement of a judgment against a foreign state.

Although the foreign state was the successful party, the court declined to award substantial indemnity costs due to the absence of improper litigation conduct and the novelty of the issues.

A third‑party bank that participated extensively in the litigation was found not to be a necessary party and was denied costs.

The creditor was ordered to pay the foreign state partial indemnity costs fixed at $100,000 inclusive of disbursements and HST.

A judgment creditor sought to enforce an international arbitration award by garnishing bank accounts held by a foreign state’s embassy in Canada.

The foreign state moved to quash the notices of garnishment, asserting diplomatic immunity over the embassy accounts.

The court held that assurances from the ambassador created a strong presumption that the accounts were used for diplomatic purposes under customary international law and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

The creditor’s evidence, including payments of litigation costs and scholarship funds to students, did not demonstrate non‑diplomatic or commercial use sufficient to rebut the presumption.

The garnishment notices were therefore quashed and further enforcement against the accounts was prohibited.