Court File and Parties

CITATION: Wright v. United Parcel Services Canada Ltd., 2015 ONSC 6778

DIVISIONAL COURT FILE NO.: 415/11

DATE: 20151104

SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE – ONTARIO

DIVISIONAL COURT

RE: Ryan Wright and Julia Zislin, Plaintiffs (Respondents)

- AND-

united parcel services canada ltd., Defendant (Appellant)

BEFORE: Swinton, Harvison Young and Lederer JJ.

COUNSEL: C. Scott Ritchie, Daniel E.H. Bach, Emilie McLachlan Maxwell, and Michael A. Eizenga, for the Plaintiffs (Respondents)

John A. Campion and Sébastien Kwidzinski, for the Defendant (Appellant)

HEARD at Toronto: in writing

COSTS ENDORSEMENT

[1] The respondents seek costs of $82,692.85 for the motion for leave to appeal and $108,534.16 for the appeal. The appellant argues that it should have costs of the motion for leave, and that the respondents’ costs are excessive.

[2] As the respondents were successful on both the motion for leave and the appeal, they should have costs for both the motion and the appeal. The fact that the judge granting leave reserved the costs of the motion to the panel hearing the appeal suggests that the costs of the motion were to go to the party successful on the appeal.

[3] While the issue on appeal was extremely important to both parties, the amount claimed is excessive. While the motion for leave lasted two days, the focus was on one question: whether the unsolicited services issue was a common issue. The appeal lasted less than one day. There were four counsel for the respondents on the motion and the appeal. There were 242 hours docketed in preparation for the motion and 305.3 hours for the appeal.

[4] The appellant has not provided a bill of costs, which would be a relevant consideration in respect of the reasonable expectations of the costs that it might expect to pay for these steps. As well, it launched a wide-ranging attack on the certification decision that increased costs of preparation for the respondents.

[5] In our view, a fair and reasonable amount for these two steps is $40,000.00 for the motion for leave to appeal and $80,000.00 for the appeal, inclusive of HST and disbursements. Accordingly, costs to the respondents are fixed at $120,000.00 all in.

Swinton J.

Harvison Young J.

Lederer J.

Date: November 4, 2015