Khrystina Marie McMillan

The defendant, Alan Eugeni, a former pilot for Air Georgian Limited, brought a motion to dismiss a defamation claim under Ontario's anti-SLAPP legislation (s. 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act).

Air Georgian's claim stemmed from a self-published book by Eugeni, his website, and comments quoted in a Financial Post article, primarily focusing on the book.

The court found that Eugeni's expression related to a matter of public interest (aviation safety).

While Air Georgian demonstrated substantial merit to its defamation claim and Eugeni conceded he had no valid defence for the purpose of the motion, the court ultimately concluded that the harm suffered by Air Georgian was not sufficiently serious to outweigh the public interest in protecting Eugeni's expression.

The book had limited sales (247 copies), and broader public concerns about Air Georgian's safety were already present in widely circulated media and government reports.

The court noted a significant power imbalance and indicia of a SLAPP suit, leading to the dismissal of Air Georgian's claim.

The plaintiffs, Paramount Fine Foods and Mohamad Fakih, brought a motion for summary judgment against Kevin J. Johnston and FreedomReport.ca for defamatory publications.

The defendants failed to file responding materials, resulting in no material facts in issue.

The court found the defendants defamed the plaintiffs, awarding $2.5 million in general, aggravated, punitive, and special damages, and granted permanent injunctions to prevent further defamation and harassment.

The plaintiffs moved to remove the defendant's designated representative for examination for discovery, Peter Hill, due to an irreconcilable conflict of interest.

Hill had a lucrative consulting contract with one of the incumbent telecommunications providers whose conduct was central to the action, and his contract required him to prefer his client's interests.

The court found that Hill's contractual obligations and his evasive testimony during discovery demonstrated a preference for the incumbent's interests over his duties as a witness, rendering him a demonstrably unsatisfactory representative.

The motion was granted, and Hill was ordered to be replaced by Kelly Gillis or another suitable witness.

The plaintiff, Akelius Canada Ltd., sought a world-wide Mareva injunction against the defendants, 2436196 Ontario Inc. and B’Nai Fishel Corporation, to protect its ability to recover damages arising from an aborted sale of eight apartment buildings.

The plaintiff claimed $45,000,000 in its Statement of Claim, but sought an injunction for $56,564,318 based on the increased value of the properties.

The court applied the five principles for Mareva injunctions from Chitel et al v. Rothbart et al, finding that the plaintiff established a strong prima facie case and a risk of asset removal given the defendants' sale of the properties and refusal to disclose the location of proceeds.

However, the court rejected the plaintiff's requested injunction amount, noting that the Statement of Claim did not include a claim for post-closing property value increase and that the valuation was inappropriate.

The injunction was granted for $690,631.38, representing professional fees incurred, plus fixed costs of $25,000 payable by the defendants.

The Canadian Hearing Society (CHS) brought a motion seeking to dismiss the application of the corporate applicant, The Campaign for the Inclusion of People who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing (the "Campaign"), for lack of standing, and to stay the application of the individual applicants, Ian Silver and Keith Golem, pending arbitration.

The court found that the Campaign was not a "complainant" under the Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act as it lacked a private right and reasonable expectation, and its representative authority was questionable.

The court also determined that the individual applicants' oppression claims were subject to arbitration clauses in the CHS by-laws.

Consequently, the Campaign's application was dismissed, and the Individual Applicants' application was stayed pending arbitration.

Costs were awarded to the CHS.

This endorsement addresses the costs of an action where the plaintiff, Saramia Crescent General Partner Ltd., was awarded $1,277,000 in damages for breach of lease.

The court determined that the plaintiff was entitled to costs on a partial indemnity scale up to November 8, 2016, and on a substantial indemnity scale thereafter, having beaten two offers to settle.

The defendants' arguments that the costs were excessive, that the issues were novel justifying a reduction, or that mediation costs should be excluded were largely rejected.

A minor reduction was made for communications costs.

The court also drew an adverse inference against the defendants for failing to disclose their own costs.