K. Hashmi

The plaintiff brought a motion to strike portions of the defendant's defence and the entirety of the counterclaim.

The parties resolved the motion by consent, leaving only the issue of costs.

The defendant argued that a consent order should not attract costs and that the motion was unnecessary.

The court disagreed, finding that the plaintiff incurred costs to analyze the poorly constructed pleadings and identify what should be struck, work that the defendant's counsel should have done.

However, the court found the plaintiff's claimed costs of nearly $9,000 to be excessive.

Applying the factors in Rule 57.01, the court fixed costs at $5,000 inclusive of HST and disbursements.

Following the release of reasons for decision in a civil proceeding, counsel alerted the court to misstatements contained in several paragraphs of the judgment.

The court reviewed the concerns raised in correspondence and agreed that errors existed in the previously released reasons.

The judge confirmed that the misstatements had not been identified despite multiple proofreadings prior to release.

The court ordered that the errors be corrected and that a corrected version of the reasons be circulated to counsel.

The defendants brought a motion to lift a stay imposed in 2001 pending determination of a right-to-sue application before the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal and sought dismissal of the action for delay.

The self-represented plaintiff requested that the stay continue while she pursued reconsideration or judicial review of the tribunal decision.

The court held that the stay should be lifted because the tribunal decision constituted a final determination and further proceedings should not delay the civil action.

However, despite the long history of delay, the court declined to dismiss the action, finding that the existing documentary record would permit a fair trial and that the defendants had consented to the stay and delayed bringing the motion.

The action was restored to the trial list with expedited pre-trial and trial dates.