Court File and Parties

COURT OF APPEAL FOR ONTARIO DATE: 20240502 DOCKET: COA-22-CV-0404

Brown, Paciocco and Nordheimer JJ.A.

BETWEEN

Parbattie Kisten Applicant (Appellant)

and

Mariusz Kosewski Respondent (Respondent)

Counsel: Veena Pohani, for the appellant No one appearing for the respondent

Heard: May 1, 2024

On appeal from the judgment of Justice Cheryl Lafrenière of the Superior Court of Justice, dated November 1, 2022.

Reasons for Decision

[1] The appellant seeks to reverse the trial judgment that dismissed her application seeking a declaration that the respondent held a residential property in trust for the appellant as well as for damages under various heads. The respondent did not appear for the hearing of the appeal. At the conclusion of the hearing, we dismissed the appeal with reasons to follow. We now provide our reasons.

[2] The trial took place over many days in late 2021 and early 2022, including written closing submissions. The trial judge released her decision some months later. The trial judge’s reasons comprise 111 pages and 756 paragraphs.

[3] The reasons of the trial judge were unduly lengthy. The length arises from the fact that the trial judge set out virtually every piece of evidence that she heard and cited virtually every decision to which the parties made any reference. None of that is helpful to the parties nor is it helpful for the purposes of appellate review.

[4] Nevertheless, the trial judge’s conclusions were based on the facts as she found them and on her assessment of the credibility of the witnesses. In particular, the trial judge found the appellant’s evidence to be “inherently improbable”. She also found the appellant not to be credible and that she exaggerated her evidence.

[5] The appellant has not demonstrated any basis by which this court could interfere with the trial judge’s credibility assessments or with her factual findings. No error of law is shown. There is simply no basis on which this court could reverse the trial judge’s decision.

[6] The appeal is dismissed. We would not make any order as to costs.

“David Brown J.A.”

“David M. Paciocco J.A.”

“I.V.B. Nordheimer J.A.”