M. Crane

The Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) brought a motion for leave to intervene in an application to set aside an arbitration appeal decision regarding a real estate commission dispute.

The applicant opposed the motion, arguing OREA had no genuine interest in the private dispute.

The court granted the motion, finding that OREA had a genuine interest in the jurisdictional issues raised, specifically whether the applicant was prohibited from commencing the application under the arbitration scheme's rules, and that OREA could make a useful contribution without causing injustice to the parties.

The defendants brought a motion seeking production of the plaintiff’s former counsel’s litigation file, including time dockets, and an order requiring the plaintiff’s witnesses to re-attend cross-examinations in relation to a pending motion alleging that the action had previously been settled.

The defendants argued that references in the plaintiff’s affidavits waived privilege over the lawyer’s file.

The court held that the affidavits merely described the plaintiff’s settlement position and instructions to counsel and did not constitute a waiver of solicitor-client privilege.

While time dockets may in principle be producible subject to redactions for legal advice, the court found the additional dockets sought were not relevant to the issue of whether the parties had reached a binding settlement agreement.

The motion for production and continued cross-examinations was dismissed.