Munaf Mohamed KC

The plaintiffs moved to compel the defendants, Saad Aljabri and Mohammed Aljabri, to produce law firm trust ledgers and to answer certain questions from examinations.

The court held that trust ledgers are presumptively protected by solicitor-client privilege and that the plaintiffs failed to rebut this presumption.

The court further concluded that the "crime/fraud" exception to solicitor-client privilege does not apply to civil wrongs, including civil fraud, following the principle of horizontal stare decisis.

Consequently, the motion to compel production of trust ledgers was dismissed.

The motion to compel Mohammed Aljabri to answer undertakings and other questions was allowed, subject to redactions for privileged information in bank statements.

This motion concerned a request for a stay pending appeal of a judgment secured by Lithium Royalty Corporation (LRC) after a bifurcated liability hearing in a breach of contract action.

The moving parties (Orion entities) sought a full stay of the underlying action and their appeal.

The court dismissed the motion for a full stay of the underlying action but granted a partial stay against two specific respondents, Bellatrix Ltd. and Orion Mine Finance (Master) Fund I LP, preventing enforcement actions without leave, due to the apparent strength of their appeals regarding corporate separateness.

The court also ordered a stay of the appeal itself (COA-23-CV-1029) pending the conclusion of the underlying trial to promote judicial efficiency and avoid multiplicity of proceedings.

The defendants (Moving Parties) sought an order for the issuance of two letters of request to judicial authorities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to compel the examination of two witnesses, Yasir O. Al-Rumayyan and Fahad Nasser Alarfaj.

The Moving Parties argued these witnesses had relevant evidence for their motion to set aside Mareva orders, particularly regarding alleged contradictory positions taken by the plaintiffs (controlled by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund) in this action versus unrelated U.S. litigation (LIV Golf Litigation) concerning PIF's independence from the KSA government.

The motion was unopposed by the plaintiffs.

The court found the proposed witnesses had prima facie relevant evidence and that the requirements under Rules 39.03 and 34.07(2) for examining non-parties and issuing letters of request for witnesses outside Canada were met.

The order for letters of request was granted.