Paul-Eric Veel

Citibank, N.A. commenced an application seeking the appointment of an investigative receiver for Rodrigo Lebois Mateos' assets, inspection of records for Terralpa Investment Fund I Limited Partnership and Araterra Inversiones, and compliance with the Limited Partnerships Act.

The respondents brought a motion to permanently or temporarily stay the application in favour of ongoing proceedings in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The court granted a temporary stay of Citibank's application for a receiver, finding a substantial overlap with the U.S. proceedings and potential for duplication of resources.

However, the court ordered Terralpa LP and Araterra Inversiones to comply with the record-keeping and disclosure requirements of the Limited Partnerships Act, as this relief was outside the U.S. court's jurisdiction.

A sealing order was also granted for sensitive financial information to maintain comity with the U.S. proceedings.

The court determined costs following two anti-SLAPP motions under s. 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act.

The defendant broadcaster, having successfully dismissed the defamation claim against it, was awarded costs on a full indemnity basis, though the requested amount was reduced to $500,000 plus disbursements due to the motion's excessive complexity.

The plaintiff, having successfully defeated the defendant university's novel anti-SLAPP motion regarding a negligence claim, was awarded partial indemnity costs of $222,000, as the university's motion lacked the characteristics of a true SLAPP suit.

The defendants, CBC and Trent University, brought anti-SLAPP motions under s. 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act to dismiss the plaintiffs' $210 million defamation and negligence action.

The action arose from a Marketplace report alleging the plaintiffs' chicken sandwiches contained only 50% chicken based on DNA tests conducted by Trent University.

The court granted CBC's motion, finding that while the defamation claim had substantial merit, CBC had a valid defence of responsible communication and the public interest in protecting investigative journalism outweighed the plaintiffs' private harm.

The court dismissed Trent University's motion, holding that the negligence claim regarding faulty laboratory testing did not arise from an expression relating to a matter of public interest and was therefore not subject to dismissal under the anti-SLAPP provisions.

Following the dismissal of the plaintiff's class action on summary judgment, the parties made written submissions on costs.

The defendants sought full or substantial indemnity costs, while the Class Proceedings Fund argued for a 30% reduction on the basis that the litigation was brought in the public interest.

The court rejected both arguments, finding that the defendants' discounted fee arrangement and the breach of trust pleading did not justify an elevated costs scale, and that the pension calculation dispute was a private financial matter rather than public interest litigation.

The court exercised its discretion to award the defendants partial indemnity costs fixed at $200,000 for fees plus disbursements.