Pippa Leslie

The moving parties sought leave to appeal the order of Belobaba J. dated May 18, 2022.

The Divisional Court dismissed the motion for leave to appeal and awarded costs to the respondent in the agreed-upon amount of $6,000.

The defendants brought a motion for summary judgment to dismiss the plaintiffs' medical malpractice action regarding plastic surgery.

The self-represented plaintiff failed to attend the motion and had not communicated with the defendants for over a year.

The court granted the motion, noting that the plaintiff failed to produce the required expert evidence to establish a breach of the standard of care, whereas the defendants provided an unchallenged expert report.

The action was dismissed with costs awarded to the defendants.

The defendants in a certified class action regarding COVID-19 business interruption insurance claims brought a motion seeking joint adjudication and common case management of common questions across approximately 79 overlapping proceedings.

The motion was opposed by several plaintiffs in individual actions who wished to proceed independently.

The court dismissed the motion, affording deference to a prior case management decision that declined to stay the individual actions, and finding that forcing joint adjudication would inappropriately undermine the plaintiffs' right to opt out of the class proceeding and cause undue delay.

The appellant, Maxine Donna McLean, appealed the dismissal of her negligence action against Dr. Nikolaj Wolfson.

The action was dismissed by the motion judge due to Dr. McLean's repeated failure to produce medical records (a "recent X-ray" and related diagnoses) as requested and ordered, which were referenced in her Statement of Claim.

The Court of Appeal found that the motion judge properly exercised discretion in dismissing the action, given the ample time provided and lack of reasonable explanation for non-compliance.

The Court also declined to admit fresh evidence on appeal, as it did not correct the deficiencies and was not timely.

A case conference was held to schedule the defendants' motion for summary judgment.

The self-represented plaintiff failed to attend the case conference and had blocked emails from the court.

The case management judge established a timetable for the summary judgment motion and ordered that the defendants serve their materials on the plaintiff by personal service.

The self-represented plaintiff failed to attend a scheduled videoconference motion.

The court adjourned the motions and ordered the plaintiff to pay $500 in costs for the missed appearance.

The court also noted that under Rule 15.01, the minor plaintiff must be represented by a lawyer, and directed the plaintiff to either retain counsel or properly move to discontinue the minor's claim.

At a case management conference, the self-represented plaintiff and the defendants sought to schedule several motions.

The plaintiff intended to bring motions to set aside the appointment of the case management judge, amend the statement of claim, and compel production of documents.

The defendants intended to bring a motion to dispense with mediation.

The court established a timetable for the motions to be heard and noted preliminary issues regarding the representation of a minor plaintiff.