Nasha Nijhawan

The defendants brought a motion under Rule 21.01(1)(b) of the Rules of Civil Procedure to strike an action commenced by a corporate religious entity seeking declarations regarding the removal of a bishop and a church council member from ecclesiastical positions.

The court considered whether the corporate plaintiff had private law standing to seek declaratory relief concerning religious appointments and governance within the church.

It held that the corporation’s objects did not give it a legal interest in determining who held ecclesiastical offices or church administrative roles.

Because the dispute concerned the personal rights of individuals within a religious organization rather than the corporation’s legal rights or property interests, the corporation lacked standing.

The statement of claim was struck for disclosing no reasonable cause of action.

The applicant sought to certify a class proceeding against her former lawyers, alleging they breached the Solicitors Act by improperly including recovered costs in their contingency fees without court approval.

The court dismissed the certification motion, finding that while the pleadings disclosed a cause of action and an identifiable class could be defined, the claims lacked commonality.

The court held that determining whether the contingency fee agreements were fair and reasonable required highly individualized assessments of each solicitor-client relationship, making a class proceeding unmanageable and not the preferable procedure.

A proposed class action sought certification against an accounting firm for alleged negligent misrepresentation and negligence arising from a clean audit opinion included in a private placement memorandum for a hog‑farming company.

Accredited investors alleged the audit enabled a financing that later collapsed after disclosures about inadequate financial controls in a cash‑based business.

The court held the pleadings disclosed tenable causes of action and some proposed common issues satisfied the certification threshold.

However, the proposed global class lacked a real and substantial connection to Ontario and a class proceeding was not the preferable procedure, as the investors were identifiable, sophisticated, and capable of pursuing joined claims individually.

Certification was therefore refused.

In a proposed class proceeding under the Class Proceedings Act, 1992, the moving party brought an omnibus motion seeking multiple procedural and evidentiary orders affecting the record for a certification motion.

Most of the relief sought was either abandoned or dismissed, with only minor unopposed amendments granted.

The court held that the respondents were entitled to costs because the moving party was largely unsuccessful.

Although the respondents sought over $30,000 including substantial indemnity costs for abandoned claims, the court rejected punitive costs and applied the partial indemnity scale.

A proportionate costs award of $20,000 all-inclusive was ordered.