DATE: 20050906

DOCKET: C42715

COURT OF APPEAL FOR ONTARIO

RE:

NIKOLA MANDIC (Plaintiff/Respondent) –and- SEE-ME AUTO LEASING LTD. And NIKOLA KUZMANOVIC (Defendants/Appellants)

BEFORE:

LASKIN, SHARPE and JURIANSZ JJ.A.

COUNSEL:

Steven Gadbois

for the appellants

Gerry Taylor

for the respondent

HEARD & ENDORSED:

September 2, 2005

On appeal from the judgment of Justice C.S. Glithero, made in Kitchener, dated November 2, 2004..

A P P E A L B O O K E N D O R S E M E N T

[1] The trial judge gave thorough and careful reasons. The appellant raises a single ground of appeal: the trial judge erred in exercising his discretion to refuse an adjournment to permit the appellant to bring evidence from Serbia relating to the oil issue.

[2] We do not agree with this submission. The appellant knew that the delivery of oil to Serbia was an issue for some time, yet waited until the eve of trial to make inquiries about it. More important, he gave the trial judge no indication how this evidence would be relevant to the dispute between the parties. From the trial judge’s perspective, the relevance of the information from Serbia was speculative at best. In these circumstances he properly exercised his discretion in refusing the adjournment. Even today the potential impact of the evidence remains highly speculative.

[3] The appeal is dismissed with costs on a partial indemnity basis fixed in the amount of $5390.37 all inclusive.