The plaintiff moved to amend its statement of claim to reduce its damages from $500,000 to $60,461.87, thereby transferring the action from the ordinary procedure to the simplified procedure.
The defendants consented to the amendment but sought substantial indemnity costs for expenses unnecessarily incurred by the plaintiff's initial choice of procedure.
The court found that the plaintiff knew or should have known the claim fell within the simplified procedure limits before issuing the claim.
The court granted the amendment and ordered the plaintiff to pay the defendants' unnecessarily incurred costs and disbursements on a substantial indemnity basis, deferring the issue of Rule 76.13(3) cost consequences to the trial judge.
