Paul J. Pape

The appellant appealed a trial decision ordering specific performance of an oral agreement to sell land to the respondent for $4.1 million.

The appellant argued the oral agreement was unenforceable under s. 4 of the Statute of Frauds, contending the detrimental reliance aspect of the doctrine of part performance was not met because the respondent's only obligation was to pay the purchase price, which was tendered but refused.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding the trial judge did not err in concluding the respondent irremediably carried out its obligations to its detriment by taking all necessary steps to close the transaction while the appellant stood by.

The Penfound Parties moved to lift a permanent stay of their claims and counterclaims, which had been imposed after they improperly accessed the Sprott Parties' privileged documents.

They sought the appointment of a litigation receiver and manager, arguing this constituted a material change in circumstances that would detoxify the litigation.

The court dismissed the motion, finding that the proposed remedy was not a new circumstance but an argument that could have been raised during the original stay motion.

The court held that issue estoppel precluded relitigating the appropriate remedy, and regardless, a receiver could not effectively cure the prejudice caused by the moving parties' knowledge of privileged information.

The successful plaintiff, Mettko Construction Ltd., sought substantial indemnity costs after being awarded damages at trial.

The defendant, Hauser Realty Corp., argued for partial indemnity, asserting that Mettko's Rule 49 offer to settle was implicitly withdrawn by subsequent settlement negotiations and that the quantum sought was unreasonable.

The court found that Mettko's Rule 49 offer was indeed withdrawn by implication due to later offers.

While acknowledging Mettko's success and the importance of the issues, the court also considered factors such as the evolving nature of Mettko's case theory and multiple changes in counsel, which contributed to increased costs.

The court ultimately awarded Mettko $225,000 in all-inclusive costs, deeming it a reasonable and proportionate amount for the unsuccessful party to pay, rather than the $456,609.81 sought.

The respondent, Sara Baker, suffered a stroke and was denied long-term disability benefits by the appellant, Blue Cross Life Insurance Company of Canada.

A jury at trial found in favour of Baker, awarding retroactive benefits, aggravated damages, and $1.5 million in punitive damages, along with full indemnity costs.

Blue Cross appealed the punitive damages award and sought leave to appeal the costs award.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal of the punitive damages, finding ample evidence of Blue Cross's reckless indifference or deliberate strategy to deny benefits, and that the quantum was rationally connected to deterrence.

The Court granted leave to appeal costs but ultimately dismissed the costs appeal, upholding the full indemnity costs based on Blue Cross's misconduct and the respondent's settlement offer, correcting the trial judge's reasoning for the costs award.

The plaintiff construction management company sued the defendant property owner for wrongful termination of a pre-construction and construction services contract.

The defendant argued the termination was justified because the plaintiff repudiated the contract by failing to perform core duties, meet the target budget, and meet the completion date.

The court found that the plaintiff continued to perform its duties, the budget and timeline delays were caused by design and permitting issues outside the plaintiff's control, and the plaintiff did not repudiate the contract.

The court held the defendant terminated the contract without justification and awarded the plaintiff $281,345.52 in damages for lost profits and outstanding invoices, subject to the contractual interest rate.

The appellant, a landlord, appealed a trial judgment that found it liable for conversion of chattels belonging to its former tenant's chattel mortgagee (the respondent).

The trial judge awarded compensatory damages based on the chattels' market value and punitive damages.

The appellant argued the compensatory damages should have been limited to the outstanding chattel mortgage balance, claiming an ownership interest in the abandoned chattels, and that punitive damages were unwarranted or excessive.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding the appellant's ownership argument was a new theory not raised at trial and was contradicted by evidence.

The court affirmed that market value was the appropriate measure of damages for conversion and upheld the punitive damages award as a rational response to the appellant's high-handed conduct.

This is an appeal from a medical negligence judgment.

The appellants, two doctors, challenged the trial judge's findings on standard of care and causation after Ms. Stevenhaagen suffered severe neurological injuries following an angioplasty procedure and subsequent aortic rupture.

The trial judge found the doctors liable for failing to consult a cardiovascular surgeon promptly and for transferring the patient to the Coronary Care Unit instead of directly to the operating room after temporary stabilization.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, upholding the trial judge's conclusions that the standard of care was breached and that this breach caused Ms. Stevenhaagen's injuries, applying the 'but for' test for causation.

The appellants appealed a summary judgment that held them liable under a guarantee to The Toronto-Dominion Bank.

The central issue was whether an email sent by one of the appellants constituted clear and unequivocal notice to terminate their liability under the guarantee.

The Court of Appeal found that the email, which sought confirmation of no obligation, did provide such notice.

The court distinguished the facts from a prior Supreme Court of Canada decision, noting that the bank had no doubt about the appellants' intent to terminate and did not take actions indicating a continuing relationship after the notice.

The appeal was allowed, reversing the summary judgment against the appellants.

This appeal concerned the interpretation of a force majeure clause in commercial leases between school boards and a multi-purpose sporting facility.

Due to province-wide COVID-19 lockdowns, the facility was unable to open, and the school boards sought rent abatement under the force majeure clause.

The application judge found the clause applied and rent was abated.

The appellant (landlord) argued that the clause required the landlord to explicitly "claim" a force majeure event for rent abatement to occur, which they had not done.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding no palpable and overriding error in the application judge's interpretation.

The court affirmed that the landlord's objective inability to provide the leased premises due to the lockdown triggered the rent abatement, regardless of an explicit claim by the landlord.

The Court of Appeal for Ontario issued a costs endorsement following its decision to allow the appeal brought by Factory Mutual Insurance Company (FM Global) against MDS Inc. and MDS (Canada) Inc. The original appeal concerned insurance coverage for losses from an unplanned reactor shutdown, where the Court found no coverage.

This endorsement addresses the quantum of trial costs to be awarded to FM Global, which was entirely successful on appeal.

The court considered factors under s. 131(1) of the Courts of Justice Act and r. 57.01(1) of the Rules of Civil Procedure, including the complexity of issues, counsel rates, and the recoverability of expert disbursements.

This is an appeal from a common issues trial judgment in a class proceeding.

The class, comprising former boarding students of Grenville Christian College, alleged systemic negligence and breach of fiduciary duties due to abusive practices including corporal punishment and public humiliation.

The trial judge found class-wide breaches and awarded punitive damages.

The appellants sought to set aside the judgment, arguing errors in the trial judge's use of expert evidence and treatment of defence evidence.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, affirming the trial judge's findings of systemic negligence and breach of fiduciary duty, and that punitive damages were warranted, concluding that the trial judge's assessment of evidence and application of legal principles were sound.

This appeal concerned an all-risk insurance policy's coverage for business interruption losses suffered by the insured due to an unplanned shutdown of a nuclear reactor caused by corrosion.

The Court of Appeal reversed the trial judge's decision, holding that the term "corrosion" in the exclusion clause was unambiguous and applied to all forms of corrosion, including unanticipated corrosion.

Furthermore, the exception to the exclusion for "physical damage" did not extend to economic losses such as loss of use, as "physical damage" refers to tangible alteration of property.

The appeal was allowed, and coverage was denied.

In a class action where core negligence claims were dismissed on appeal and the remaining "knowing assistance" claim was conceded as having no prospect of success, the action was formally dismissed.

The defendant auditor sought $485,000 in costs for defending the action.

The Law Foundation of Ontario (LFO), which funded the plaintiff through the Class Proceeding Fund, resisted this amount, arguing that previous costs awards covered the merits.

The court found the defendant was entitled to costs for the "knowing assistance" claim but deemed the requested amount excessive.

Applying a 40% discount to the plaintiff's estimated actual costs for this component, the court awarded $68,000 for the action and an additional $4,000 for the costs motion, totaling $72,000, payable by the LFO/CPF to the defendant.

This is an appeal concerning an insurance claim for recoverable depreciation following a fire that destroyed a commercial building.

The insured, Champion, and insurer, Intact, had a settlement agreement with a 24-month replacement deadline and an automatic forfeiture clause for recoverable depreciation if not met.

A subsequent agreement conditionally waived this deadline, contingent on Champion closing a specific property purchase.

Champion failed to close that purchase and sought to substitute another property.

The motion judge found Intact had waived Champion's failure to close and granted summary judgment.

The Court of Appeal reversed, holding that forfeiture was automatic and Intact was not required to give notice.

The Court found Intact did not waive Champion's default and dismissed Champion's cross-appeal for relief from forfeiture or damages, as Champion had not completed replacement.

The Representative Plaintiffs in a certified class action sought leave to dismiss the action due to a lack of reasonable prospect of success after an expert report undermined their case.

The Defendants did not oppose the dismissal but sought substantial partial indemnity costs for a withdrawn summary judgment motion and for defending the class action.

The Class Proceedings Fund, responsible for adverse costs, argued the Defendants' costs claim was excessive.

The court granted leave to dismiss the action and awarded the Defendants $300,000 in total partial indemnity costs, significantly less than the $750,025.31 sought by the Defendants but more than the $65,000 proposed by the Fund.

This is a costs endorsement on appeal from a jury trial judgment in a historical sexual assault case.

The appellant challenged the jury instruction on loss of income damages, the punitive damages award, and the prejudgment interest rate.

The Court of Appeal upheld the entitlement to and quantum of damages for loss of income and punitive damages but reversed the prejudgment interest award.

The respondent sought substantial indemnity costs of $179,660.31, relying on a presumption under the Victims' Bill of Rights.

The court awarded substantial indemnity costs of $100,000, finding that the full amount sought would not be in the interests of justice, particularly given the disproportionate relationship between trial costs and appeal costs.

A teenage plaintiff was catastrophically injured when she deliberately jumped from a moving school bus on the last day of Grade 8 as part of an informal tradition among graduating students.

The bus operator had received prior reports of students jumping from buses but failed to report these incidents to the school as required by its own handbook.

A jury found the defendant 75 per cent liable and the plaintiff 25 per cent contributorily negligent, awarding substantial damages.

The defendant appealed on grounds of improper jury charge regarding causation and contributory negligence, erroneous removal of the mitigation issue from the jury, and failure to deduct statutory accident benefits.

The Court of Appeal upheld the jury verdict on causation and contributory negligence, found the trial judge erred in removing mitigation from the jury but determined no miscarriage of justice resulted, and remitted the statutory accident benefits deduction issue to the Superior Court for determination.

The respondent was sexually abused by a priest while a student at a school run by the appellants.

The trial judge and jury found the appellants vicariously liable.

The jury awarded $350,000 in general damages, $75,000 in aggravated damages, $56,400 in future treatment costs, $1,588,781 for past and future income loss, and $500,000 in punitive damages.

The appellants appealed on three grounds: the jury instruction on burden of proof for past income loss was erroneous, the punitive damages award was excessive, and prejudgment interest should not have been set at 5 per cent.

The Court of Appeal upheld the jury instruction and punitive damages award but found the trial judge erred in setting prejudgment interest at 5 per cent instead of 1.3 per cent.

A landlord leased commercial property to a tenant who operated a contracting business.

The tenant modified the property by dumping landfill in a regulated flood plain without proper authorization, leading to environmental remediation orders.

The landlord and tenant had an oral agreement whereby the tenant would pay rezoning costs and complete required site plan modifications.

When the tenant failed to complete remediation work and the relationship broke down, the landlord terminated the lease and seized the tenant's commercial equipment on the property.

The landlord sued for unpaid rent and property damage; the tenant counterclaimed for conversion of the seized chattels and lost business income.

The trial judge awarded damages to both parties and set them off.

Both parties appealed on liability and damages.

This costs endorsement addresses three motions within a consolidated proceeding.

The court awarded substantial indemnity costs to the Adair parties (defendants) against the Pichelli parties (plaintiffs) for their successful summary judgment motions, finding that the allegations of fraud and malfeasance were unsubstantiated.

For the summary judgment motion brought by the Vuletic defendants against the Pichelli parties, costs were reserved to the trial judge due to unresolved factual disputes, including an allegation of forgery.

Finally, for a motion to vary a previous decision regarding Ante Kegalj, the Pichelli parties were awarded partial indemnity costs, significantly reduced from their claim, due to the straightforward nature of the motion and issues with their bill of costs.