In a CCAA proceeding, the applicants challenged the reasonableness of legal fees charged by counsel to their secured lender after the applicants were required to pay those fees as part of the secured debt under an initial order.
The issue on this motion was whether the dispute over the reasonableness of the fees should be determined by an assessment officer through a solicitor-client assessment or by a judge of the Commercial List.
The court held that because the initial order made the fees part of the costs of the CCAA proceeding, jurisdiction properly lay with the Commercial List court absent exceptional circumstances.
The court emphasized the Commercial List’s expertise in supervising professional fees in insolvency matters and concerns about proportionality and efficiency if the matter proceeded through a lengthy assessment process.
The court ordered that the issue of the reasonableness of the fees be determined by a judge of the Commercial List following a case conference process to narrow the issues.
