The defendant sought leave to appeal a Master's order referring the costs of an action dismissed for delay to an assessment officer.
The defendant argued the Master erred by failing to explicitly find an 'exceptional case' as required by Rule 57.01(3.1) to justify a referral instead of fixing costs.
The Divisional Court dismissed the motion, finding that while the Master's reasons were brief and did not explicitly state it was an exceptional case, the record and submissions supported the exercise of her discretion.
The court accorded deference to the Master and found no strong grounds to conclude she was plainly wrong.
