Rory Alexander Patrick Mc Leod Mc Gillis

The defendants brought a motion to dismiss the plaintiff's action for delay, which arose from a 2001 commercial transaction where the plaintiff sued the defendants for alleged negligence in securing deferred payments.

The court analyzed the periods of delay, finding that much of the delay was attributable to both parties or solely to the defendants.

The sole period of delay attributable to the plaintiff (16 months) was not deemed inordinate or inexcusable.

The defendants failed to demonstrate actual prejudice or rebut the presumption of prejudice, as any memory deterioration occurred before the relevant delay period, and the defendants themselves had not taken steps to preserve evidence.

The motion was dismissed, and costs were awarded to the plaintiff.

Following earlier reasons dismissing most applicants’ requests for interim advancement of legal expenses from a corporation, the court addressed the costs of the applications.

The respondent corporation sought substantial indemnity costs exceeding $559,000 or alternatively partial indemnity costs, while the applicants argued that costs should remain in the cause of the underlying indemnity issue.

The court held that although the respondent was largely successful, payment of costs should be contingent on the outcome of the trial determining entitlement to indemnity.

The court fixed partial indemnity costs of $25,000 for a related motion and $165,000 for the applications, subject to specific allocations among applicants and exceptions for one successful applicant and another who withdrew participation.

The defendants brought a motion under Rule 21.01(1)(a) of the Rules of Civil Procedure seeking dismissal of a medical negligence action arising from the death of a patient in hospital.

The plaintiffs commenced the action more than two years after the deceased’s death and argued that discoverability and fraudulent concealment should extend the limitation period because the alleged negligence was not discovered immediately.

The court held that s. 38(3) of the Trustee Act imposes a strict two‑year limitation period running from the date of death with no discoverability exception.

As the action was commenced outside that period, the estate’s claim was statute‑barred.

The derivative claims under the Family Law Act were also barred.

The defendant physicians brought a motion for summary judgment dismissing a medical malpractice claim on the basis that it was statute-barred under the Limitations Act, 2002.

The action alleged negligent delay in diagnosing breast cancer, which later recurred and became terminal.

The court considered the discoverability principle and the requirement that a claim be based on material facts including causation and actionable damage.

It held that although the cancer was diagnosed in 2007, the plaintiff’s condition went into remission and actionable injury only became apparent when the cancer recurred in 2009.

The court concluded that the defendants failed to establish that the limitation period necessarily began earlier, and that the issue required a trial.