Michael L. Byers

The plaintiffs brought an urgent motion to extend the time permitted for cross-examinations of the defendants' affiants on pending anti-SLAPP motions.

The defendants had filed 14 affidavits across four separate motions.

The court found that limiting the plaintiffs to the statutory seven hours would prevent meaningful cross-examination and that it was in the interests of justice to extend the time to 15 hours.

The plaintiff, a former member of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario, brought an action against a senior investigator of the regulatory body regarding her conduct during a professional discipline investigation that resulted in the revocation of his membership.

The defendant moved to dismiss the action.

The court found that the action was an abuse of process as it attempted to relitigate matters that were or could have been raised before the Discipline Committee.

The court also found the claim to be vexatious and frivolous, as the defendant was merely an investigator and not the decision-maker.

The action was dismissed without leave to amend, and costs were awarded to the defendant.