CITATION: Hollinger Inc. v. The Ravelston Corporation Limited, 2008 ONCA 513
DATE: 20080625
DOCKET: C46351
COURT OF APPEAL FOR ONTARIO
LASKIN, JURIANSZ and ROULEAU JJ.A.
BETWEEN:
HOLLINGER INC., DOMGROUP LTD., 4322525 CANADA INC., 10 TORONTO STREET INC. and SUGRA LIMITED
Plaintiffs (Respondents)
and
THE RAVELSTON CORPORATION LIMITED, RAVELSTON MANAGEMENT INC., 509643 N.B. INC., 509644 N.B. INC., 509645 N.B. INC., 509646 N.B. INC. 509647 N.B. INC., MOFFATT MANAGEMENT INC., BLACK-AMIEL MANAGEMENT INC., ARGUS CORPORATION LIMITED, CONRAD BLACK CAPITAL CORPORATION, HOLLINGER AVIATION INC., MOWITZA HOLDINGS INC., 364817 ONTARIO LIMITED, F.D. RADLER LTD., 1269940 ONTARIO LIMITED, 2753421 CANADA LIMITED, CONRAD M. BLACK, BARBARA AMIEL-BLACK, F. DAVID RADLER, JOHN A. BOULTBEE, 1406684 ONTARIO LIMITED and PETER Y. ATKINSON
Defendants (Respondents)
and
BELL GLOBEMEDIA PUBLISHING INC., carrying on business as The Globe and Mail
Proposed Intervenor (Appellant)
Peter Jacobsen and Adrienne Lee for the appellant
Edward L. Greenspan, Q.C., Earl A. Cherniak, Q.C. and Jasmine Akbarali for the respondents Conrad Black and Barbara Amiel-Black
HEARD: September 25, 2007
On appeal from the order of Justice C.L. Campbell of the Superior Court of Justice dated November 9, 2006 with reasons reported at (2006), 2006 CanLII 38862 (ON SC), 83 O.R. (3d) 258.
E N D O R S E M E N T R E C O S T S
[1] The appellant, Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc., was successful on appeal and asks this Court to order that the respondents, Conrad M. Black and Barbara Amiel-Black, pay partial indemnity costs of the initial motion in the amount of $26,469.68 together with costs of the appeal in the amount of $44,030.70 for a total costs award of $70,500.38. The appellant argues that the amount claimed is justified given the complexity of the issues raised by the respondents surrounding Mr. Black’s criminal trial in Chicago. Further, the legal issues raised were important to the appellant, and both the motion and the appeal were vigorously defended by the respondents.
[2] The respondents submit that the amounts claimed are out of proportion to the nature of the proceedings and that, as a general rule, intervenors neither receive nor pay costs. In fact, no costs were awarded by the motion judge in this matter.
[3] The respondents further submit that the appellant had not sought costs in its notice of motion seeking to intervene and no request for costs of that motion is contained in its notice of appeal to this court. Instead, the appellant only sought costs of the appeal.
[4] Finally, the respondents submit that the time expended by the appellant’s solicitors working on the file and the partial indemnity rates claimed are excessive and, if this court decides to award costs of the appeal, it should be limited to $15,000.
[5] In our view, costs should follow the event. The appellant was successful in its appeal and was entirely justified in challenging the motion judge’s ruling. In the circumstances, however, we consider that an amount of $18,000 is reasonable. The issues raised in the appeal were familiar to the appellant and, in our view, the time expended is in excess of what would reasonably be expected by, and fair to, the respondents. As to the costs of the motion, we would not interfere with the motion judge’s disposition. The motion judge made no order as to costs and this aspect of the order was not challenged in the notice of appeal. It would be unfair to now order the respondents to pay costs of the original motion when no such order was sought at the hearing of the original motion.
[6] In conclusion, the appellant is awarded partial indemnity costs of the appeal as against the respondents Conrad M. Black and Barbara Amiel-Black fixed in the amount of $18,000 inclusive of GST and disbursements.
“John Laskin J.A.”
“R.G. Juriansz J.A.”
“Paul Rouleau J.A.”