The plaintiff, Royal Bank of Canada, brought a motion to strike the defendants' statement of defence for non-compliance with a discovery order and failure to pay previous costs.
The plaintiff also sought an order for personal costs against the defendants' lawyer, Mr. Gakiri, for improper conduct during a discovery examination.
The court declined to strike the defence, granting the defendants a final opportunity to comply with the discovery plan and pay outstanding costs.
However, the court found Mr. Gakiri's conduct during the examination improper, constituting an abuse of the discovery process, and ordered him to personally pay a portion of the wasted costs.
Directions were also provided for the future conduct of the defendants' examinations for discovery.
