The defendant, Bruce McConville, brought a motion to amend his Statement of Defence by withdrawing an admission regarding the non-disclosure of asset sales in a prior family law proceeding.
The plaintiff, Jennifer Horrocks, opposed the motion, citing the defendant's history of non-disclosure and previous court findings.
The court applied the three-part test for withdrawing admissions, finding that the defendant met the low threshold for showing a triable issue due to contradictory evidence, provided a reasonable explanation for the inadvertent admission, and that no uncompensable prejudice would result.
The motion was granted, but no costs were awarded to the successful moving party due to the motion being necessitated by his own error and troublesome conduct in the underlying family law matter.
