M. Morden

The plaintiff brought a motion arising from refusals during examinations for discovery in a commercial dispute alleging that the defendants appropriated the plaintiff’s property and profits.

The court addressed several undertakings and refusals from the examinations of individual defendants and ordered that certain refused questions be answered.

It further ordered the corporate defendant to produce financial statements from 2010 onward, finding them relevant to the plaintiff’s disgorgement claim.

The defendants had agreed to answer most refusals but maintained opposition to the production request.

The court ordered production and awarded fixed costs for the refusal.

The plaintiff condominium corporation sought leave to discontinue its action against a former employee defendant without costs, or alternatively with modest costs, following settlement of related litigation arising from a large fraud scheme.

The responding defendant sought costs exceeding $50,000.

The court applied Rule 23.05 of the Rules of Civil Procedure and the 'justified action test' governing costs on discontinuance.

While the plaintiff had a bona fide basis to commence the action because the defendant’s name appeared on loan documents, the defendant incurred some legal expenses in defending the claim.

The court rejected the majority of the claimed costs due to questionable docketing practices and excessive billing, and awarded partial indemnity costs of $5,000 as a condition of discontinuance.