Rahat Godil

The defendants, GlaxoSmithKline LLC and Almirall (Aqua Pharmaceuticals), brought a motion to set aside service of the Statement of Claim and to dismiss or stay the action against them for lack of jurisdiction.

The plaintiff, Glycobiosciences Inc., alleged tortious interference and fraudulent/negligent misrepresentation.

The court found that the plaintiff failed to establish a good arguable case for any presumptive connecting factors (domicile, carrying on business, or tort committed in Ontario) to link the defendants to the jurisdiction.

Consequently, the court lacked a real and substantial connection to the action, set aside service, and stayed the action against both defendants.

Costs were awarded to the successful defendants.

The plaintiff's counsel sought an adjournment of a long motion brought by the defendant to dismiss a class action.

The adjournment was requested primarily due to the recent retention of outside counsel who was unavailable, among other reasons.

The court reluctantly granted the adjournment, criticizing plaintiff's counsel's conduct for causing needless delay and wasting judicial resources, but found it necessary to prevent irreparable prejudice to the plaintiff.

The court emphasized that retaining new counsel on the eve of a hearing will not constitute exceptional circumstances for future adjournments.

Costs of $10,000 were awarded against the plaintiff's counsel.