Rebecca Joan Burrows

The defendants moved for leave under Rule 25.01(5) of the Rules of Civil Procedure to deliver a rejoinder responding to the plaintiffs’ Reply.

The court considered the restrictive test governing when pleadings may continue beyond a reply, emphasizing that leave should only be granted where the reply introduces new and important matters that could not reasonably have been anticipated in the statement of defence.

The motion arose in complex litigation concerning family disputes over corporate, trust, and estate arrangements involving a real estate business and charitable structures.

The court concluded that several allegations raised in the reply—including claims regarding mistaken transfers of investment assets, fiduciary breaches, property management arrangements, and trust income expectations—introduced new factual bases and potential grounds of liability.

Leave was granted to deliver the proposed rejoinder in full.

Two related applications arose from a commercial arbitration concerning a Liquidity Payment obligation under a financing arrangement between a dairy company and a pension fund.

The moving party sought to set aside a final arbitral award under s. 46(1) of the Arbitration Act, 1991, alleging breaches of procedural fairness and arguing the arbitrator’s contractual interpretation was unreasonable.

The court held the arbitration process was fair, the parties had adequate opportunity to present their cases, and the arbitrator’s interpretation of the Liquidity Payment Agreement was consistent with its plain language.

The application to set aside the award was dismissed.

The responding party’s application to enforce the arbitral award and supplementary costs award was granted, with interest fixed at 3% in accordance with the contract and applicable statutory rates.