M. James

The applicant brought a motion for contempt of court after the respondent refused to return the children following a summer access visit.

The contempt motion was resolved substantially on consent after the respondent retained counsel.

The court treated the motion as one to enforce a court order.

The applicant sought full indemnity costs of $2,883.12.

The court found the respondent's conduct necessitated the motion but declined to award substantial indemnity costs due to the consent resolution.

Costs were fixed at $1,700 payable by the respondent.

The applicant father brought a motion for a temporary order granting him sole custody of two of his children, alleging parental alienation by the respondent mother.

The court reviewed extensive evidence, including reports from child protection workers, and found that the mother was intentionally engaging in parental alienation strategies to distance the children from their father.

Concluding that the children's expressed resistance to access was scripted and did not reflect their true feelings, the court ordered a temporary reversal of primary residence, granting sole custody to the father with restricted, supervised access for the mother.

The defendant Children's Aid Society brought a motion to strike the self-represented plaintiff's statement of claim for failing to disclose a reasonable cause of action.

The plaintiff, whose child had been apprehended, alleged deceit, misrepresentation, and intentional infliction of mental suffering by the Society.

The court found that while the Society generally owes no duty of care to parents in negligence, the plaintiff's allegations sounded in intentional wrongdoing and bad faith, which might pierce the Society's statutory immunity under the Child and Family Services Act.

However, because the claim lacked sufficient material facts, the court struck the pleading but granted the plaintiff leave to amend.