In an estates dispute over jointly held property alleged to be held on resulting trust for the deceased's estate, the moving party sought summary judgment dismissing the trust claim as statute-barred and extending that ruling to a related passing of accounts application.
The court held that summary judgment is not available in an application, applying the Court of Appeal's direction that Rule 20 is restricted to actions.
The court further declined to convert the matter into a partial hearing of substantive issues, finding that piecemeal adjudication would be disproportionate given the overlap between the trust claim, the estate trustee's accounting obligations, and potential breach of duty issues.
The limitation issue was left for determination at a joint hearing of both applications, and costs were deferred.
