Jordan Afolabi

The court addresses the issue of "costs thrown away" following the plaintiff's successful motion to amend his Statement of Claim to add Human Rights Code claims.

The court reviews the appropriate scale for such costs, the timing of the assessment, and the quantum to be awarded.

Ultimately, the court fixes the amount of costs thrown away at $52,549, payable by the plaintiff to the defendants, and provides detailed reasons for the calculation and allocation of these costs.

The decision addresses a motion to amend the Statement of Claim in a civil action brought by Gurupdesh Pandher against the University of Windsor and several individuals.

The court considers whether the plaintiff may add Human Rights Code claims from prior HRTO applications, the addition of new defendants, the sufficiency of defamation pleadings, the scope of misfeasance in public office, the introduction of new human rights grounds, the effect of the collective agreement and labour arbitration, the use of documents subject to the deemed or implied undertaking rule, and the pleading of matters subject to settlement privilege.

The court grants some amendments, strikes others, and provides detailed directions for further pleadings.

The decision addresses motions by the plaintiff to amend his Statement of Claim to add explicit human rights claims previously advanced before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO), and to add two new defendants.

The court grants leave to amend to add the Code-related claims, finding that the amendments do not introduce new causes of action but rather new remedies arising from the same factual matrix.

The court denies leave to add new defendants, as claims against them are statute-barred.

The court also addresses costs thrown away on an abandoned injunction motion, awarding partial indemnity costs to the defendants.