Keith Millikin

The Applicant, Sara Zehra Salim, sought costs following a lengthy family law trial where she was largely successful on issues of custody, access, spousal support, and Mehr payment.

The court found the Respondent, Syed Adeel Safdar, acted in bad faith regarding domestic violence allegations, which significantly prolonged the litigation and increased the Applicant's legal expenses.

The court awarded Sara $300,000 in costs, with $25,000 to be enforced by the Family Responsibility Office (FRO) as support-related expenses, considering the Respondent's financial difficulties and the need to preserve his ability to exercise supervised access.

The applicant sought leave to appeal a costs order made by Sloan J., which fixed costs at $11,190.82 payable personally by the applicant.

The original costs order arose from a motion for directions in an estate matter.

The court applied the strict two-part test for granting leave to appeal under Rule 62.02(4), considering whether there was a conflicting decision on principle or if there was doubt about the order's correctness involving matters of general importance.

The court found no conflicting decision and determined that the costs award, while significant to the applicant, did not raise issues of public importance or access to justice.

Consequently, the motion for leave to appeal was dismissed.