Motion to strike blanket denials in statement of defence dismissed; defendants need not plead alternative facts for every denial.
The plaintiff in a solicitor's negligence action brought a motion to strike out paragraphs of the defendants' Amended Statement of Defence that contained blanket denials.
The plaintiff argued that under Rules 25.06(1) and 25.07(3) of the Rules of Civil Procedure, the defendants were required to plead their own version of material facts for every allegation denied.
The court dismissed the motion, holding that a defendant is not required to plead a different version of facts for every denied allegation, and that the defendants' pleading, read as a whole, sufficiently defined the issues in dispute.
Griffiths v. Stephen Benjamin Law Professional Corp., 2022 ONSC 3975