Jonathan Speigel

The plaintiff's construction lien action was dismissed, and the defendants' counterclaim was allowed.

This decision addresses the defendants' request for full indemnity costs against the plaintiff corporation and its principals due to egregious conduct during litigation.

The court awarded full indemnity costs against the plaintiff corporation and one principal jointly and severally, finding that principal engaged in fraud, fabricated evidence, and repeatedly lied.

Costs were not awarded against another principal, as their misconduct was not directly related to the litigation.

Following the dismissal of the plaintiff's construction lien action and the success of the defendants' counterclaim, the defendants sought full indemnity costs against the plaintiff and its non-party principals.

The court found that the plaintiff's principal engaged in egregious conduct, including fabricating evidence and lying under oath, justifying a full indemnity costs award.

The court ordered costs against the plaintiff and one of its non-party principals jointly and severally, finding his conduct amounted to an abuse of process.

Costs were not awarded against the other non-party principal, as he did not orchestrate the deceit.

Following a trial where the plaintiff's construction lien claim was dismissed and the defendants succeeded on their counterclaim, the defendants sought costs.

The court awarded full indemnity costs of $578,793.29 to the defendants due to the egregious and deceitful conduct of the plaintiff's principal, who fabricated documents and lied repeatedly.

The court also ordered the costs to be payable jointly and severally by the plaintiff corporation and its principal personally, finding his conduct amounted to an abuse of process.

The plaintiffs, judgment creditors of the defendant husband, sought to set aside the purchase and subsequent transfer of a residential property registered primarily in the defendant wife's name.

The court found numerous 'badges of fraud' and rejected the defendants' evidence that the wife solely funded the purchase.

Concluding that the husband contributed substantially to the purchase price through pooled family resources and corporate entities he controlled, the court held that the husband held an undivided one-half interest in the property and that the transfer of his interest to his wife was void as against his creditors under the Fraudulent Conveyances Act and the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.

The defendant sought costs arising from a case conference made necessary after the parties failed to comply with a court-ordered timetable for advancing the litigation.

The plaintiff had failed to serve and file an amended statement of claim within the required time, resulting in delays, unnecessary correspondence between counsel, and the cancellation of a scheduled pre-trial conference.

The court found the delay primarily attributable to the plaintiff and his counsel, and also criticized uncivil communications between counsel which contributed to wasted steps and increased costs.

The court held the defendant was entitled to wasted costs incurred due to the plaintiff’s non-compliance with the timetable.

The court fixed costs at $4,909.85 and directed further steps to determine whether some or all of those costs should be paid personally by the plaintiff’s counsel under Rule 57.07.