5 total
Self-represented plaintiff granted leave to represent her closely held corporation under Rule 15.01(2) with conditions.
The self-represented plaintiff brought a motion under Rule 15.01(2) of the Rules of Civil Procedure seeking leave to represent her closely held co-plaintiff corporation in a copyright infringement action.
The defendants opposed, arguing she lacked the ability to navigate the litigation and adhere to professional standards.
The court applied the Extend-a-Call criteria and found the plaintiff demonstrated sufficient competence and understanding of the issues.
The court granted leave, noting the corporation's closely held nature and the plaintiff's inability to retain counsel, but imposed a condition allowing the defendants to seek review if her conduct becomes obstructionist.
Plaintiff ordered to produce tax returns and unredacted cell phone records on refusals motion.
The defendant in a wrongful dismissal action brought a refusals motion seeking production of the plaintiff's 2019 income tax return, unredacted cell phone records, and leave for further oral discovery.
The court ordered production of the tax return, finding it relevant to the plaintiff's pleading of inducement.
The court also ordered production of the unredacted cell phone records, holding that the redacted information was not highly sensitive and was potentially relevant to the defendant's after-acquired cause allegations.
Finally, the court granted the defendant an additional 90 minutes of oral discovery to ask follow-up questions arising from undertakings and improper refusals.
Motion to set aside default judgment dismissed as defendants lacked an arguable defence to mortgage default.
The self-represented defendants brought a motion to set aside a default judgment obtained by the plaintiff in a mortgage enforcement action.
The defendants argued they intended to refinance but were prevented by a caution placed on title by another lender in a parallel action.
The court applied the five-factor test from Mountain View Farms and found that while the defendants moved promptly and had a plausible excuse for default, they lacked an arguable defence on the merits as they admitted to breaching the mortgage contract and being in arrears.
The motion was dismissed with costs awarded to the plaintiff.
Motion to bifurcate occupier's liability claim from trailing derivative contractual third-party claims granted to avoid delay.
The plaintiff brought a motion to bifurcate her main occupier's liability action and two related third-party claims from two other trailing third-party claims involving subcontractors.
The plaintiff argued that the trailing claims, which were derivative contractual disputes, would cause significant unnecessary delay to her personal injury trial.
The defendants opposed, arguing that bifurcation would lead to overlapping evidence and inconsistent verdicts, especially given the presence of jury notices.
The court granted the motion, finding that the occupier's liability issues were clearly severable from the contractual disputes, and that the plaintiff would suffer undue prejudice from further delay if the actions were not bifurcated.
Default set aside after prior counsel's failures caused delay.
The moving defendant sought to set aside a noting in default in a contract action for unpaid real estate commission arising from a commercial leasing arrangement.
Applying r. 19.03(1) of the Rules of Civil Procedure and the Franchetti/Kisel factors, the court held that the delay was adequately explained by prior counsel's health-related incapacity and reporting failures, that the moving party acted promptly once the default judgment motion came to its attention, and that the claim was straightforward.
The court found no material prejudice to the plaintiffs if the matter proceeded on the merits and held that the moving party had at least an arguable defence based on lack of contractual privity.
The noting in default was set aside and the moving party was granted 30 days to serve and file its statement of defence.
