Lily MacLeod

The court issued a costs endorsement following an anti-SLAPP motion.

Defendant Isabel Vincent, who successfully had the action dismissed against her, was awarded full indemnity costs of $90,000 from the Plaintiff.

The Plaintiff, Theresa Kielburger, who successfully resisted the anti-SLAPP motion brought by the other Defendants (Canadaland Inc. et al.), was awarded substantial indemnity costs of $110,000 from Canadaland Inc. The court exercised its discretion under sections 137.1(7) and (8) of the Courts of Justice Act, noting Canadaland's brazen defense and callous disregard for the Plaintiff.

The defendants brought an anti-SLAPP motion under section 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act to dismiss a defamation action arising from a podcast about a charitable organization and the plaintiff's family.

The court found that the podcast's repetition of allegations regarding the plaintiff's handling of charitable funds had substantial merit and no valid defence of responsible communication or fair comment for the host and media company.

However, the court found that the guest journalist had a valid defence of fair comment regarding her statements about a prior settlement.

The motion was dismissed for the host and media company, allowing the action to proceed against them, but granted for the guest journalist, dismissing the action against her.

The Court of Appeal for Ontario considered an appeal and cross-appeal, along with motions to quash.

The parties agreed that the appeal and cross-appeal were sufficiently interrelated to be heard together to avoid duplication and ensure consistency.

Consequently, the court, on consent, dismissed both motions to quash without costs, ordering the consolidated appeal and cross-appeal to proceed.

The applicants, Jacqueline Anne Horvat (Treasurer of the Law Society of Ontario) and the Law Society of Ontario, sought to transfer a libel action initiated by the respondent, Samuel David Goldstein, from Small Claims Court to the Superior Court of Justice.

The respondent's claim alleged libel by the Treasurer in a public statement.

The court granted the transfer, finding the case involved complex legal issues, required pre-trial discovery, and raised matters of general public importance concerning the LSO's governance and the conduct of its Benchers.

To mitigate the respondent's concerns about increased costs and potential anti-SLAPP motions, the court imposed conditions: no anti-SLAPP motion could be brought, the applicants' costs would be limited to Small Claims Court levels if successful, but the respondent's costs would not be so limited if he were successful.

The court also offered to remain seized for case management.

This is a class action certification motion concerning allegedly defective N20 engines in BMW vehicles.

The plaintiffs sought to certify a class of owners/lessees of BMW vehicles with these engines, alleging design and/or manufacturing defects causing sudden loss of power.

The court analyzed the five certification criteria under the Class Proceedings Act, 1992.

While a cause of action in negligence was found, it was significantly narrowed to exclude claims for pure economic loss, limiting recovery to repair costs for actual damage or to avert imminent damage.

The proposed class definition was also narrowed to include only those who incurred such repair expenses by the judgment date.

One of the two proposed representative plaintiffs was deemed unsuitable as she had no recoverable loss.

The motion for certification was granted, but with substantial limitations on the scope of the class and the recoverable damages, and with only one representative plaintiff.