Ryan Caesar

The plaintiffs brought a motion for leave to amend their statement of claim to add the statutory third party insurer as a defendant and to seek declaratory relief regarding coverage.

The insurer opposed the motion, arguing it would cause prejudice, was untenable in law, and constituted an abuse of process that would eviscerate an insurer's statutory right to defend claims.

The court rejected these arguments, finding no non-compensable prejudice, that the declaratory relief sought had practical utility, and that the proposed amendments did not constitute an abuse of process.

The motion was granted, and the plaintiffs were awarded partial indemnity costs.

Following the dismissal of the defendants' motions for summary judgment, the court determined the costs payable to the successful plaintiff.

The plaintiff sought substantial indemnity costs based on an unaccepted offer to settle the motions.

The court declined to award substantial indemnity costs, noting that Rule 49.10 does not provide a responding party much incentive to make an offer to settle in advance of a motion.

The court fixed the plaintiff's costs on a partial indemnity basis at $38,328, inclusive of fees, disbursements, and HST, to be paid equally by the three moving party groups.

The defendants jointly brought a motion for summary judgment to dismiss the plaintiff's slip and fall personal injury claim.

The plaintiff slipped on ice while attempting to enter a bridal store.

The court dismissed the motion, finding that the factual record was highly disputed and the electronic materials filed by the parties were voluminous, unorganized, and lacked necessary hyperlinks.

The court emphasized that summary judgment is inappropriate when the record does not allow the judge to confidently make findings of fact, and strongly criticized the profession's failure to properly prepare electronic motion records.