P. Capone

The parties are joint owners of a property that was severed into two lots by a consent order.

The applicant, who had paid all property taxes and severance costs, sought reimbursement from the respondent.

The court ordered the respondent to reimburse 50% of the property taxes paid prior to 2006, but reduced her obligation to 13.3% for subsequent years because the applicant had built a house and garage that increased the property's assessed value.

The court also ordered the respondent to pay 50% of the severance costs and ordered the applicant to pay $9,917 to compensate the respondent for receiving a smaller lot, calculated by splitting the difference between the parties' competing appraisals.

The defendants moved to strike out several paragraphs of the plaintiff's statement of claim under Rules 21.01(1)(b), 25.06, and 25.11 of the Rules of Civil Procedure.

The action involved an alleged breach of contract regarding the operation and sale of a pizza franchise.

The court dismissed the defendants' motion, finding that the claim asserted a well-recognized cause of action for breach of contract and was not frivolous or vexatious.

The plaintiff's cross-motion to compel documentary production was also dismissed as premature.

Costs of $4,000 were awarded to the plaintiff.

Following an earlier decision dismissing the defendants’ motion to transfer the proceeding from Toronto to Simcoe, the court addressed the issue of costs.

The plaintiff sought $13,054.92 in costs on a partial indemnity basis, while the defendants argued that $4,000 would be appropriate.

The court held that although the defendants’ motion had some merit and was a close call, the plaintiff was entitled to reasonable costs for successfully opposing the motion, including travel time required due to the defendants’ choice of venue for the motion.

The court reduced the claimed preparation and research hours as excessive and fixed a reasonable partial indemnity award.