SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE - ONTARIO

Cornie v Security National– Court File No.: C-484-11
Hurst v Aviva - Court File No.: C-763-11
Singh v Aviva - Court File No.: C-445-11
Clarke v State Farm - Court File No.: C-677-11

DATE: 2012-03-15

Parties

RE: Gillian Cornie, Plaintiff Court File No.: C-484-11

AND:

Security National Insurance Company o/a TD Meloche Monnex, Defendant

AND:

RE: Karen Hurst, Plaintiff Court File No.: C-763-11

AND:

Aviva Insurance Company, Defendant

And:

RE: Devinder Singh, Plaintiff Court File No.: C-445-11

AND:

Aviva Insurance Company, Defendant

AND:

RE: Elizabeth Clarke, Plaintiff Court File No.: C-677-11

AND:

State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, Defendant

BEFORE: The Honourable Mr. Justice James W. Sloan

COUNSEL:
Bruce Kelly and Ian Britto (student at law), for all Plaintiffs

Duane Burns & Jennifer Matic, for Security National Insurance Company o/a TD Meloche Monnex (C-484-11)

Catherine Korte and Matthew Dugas, for Aviva Insurance Company (C-763-11)

Pamela Quesnel & Alfred Cheng, for Aviva Insurance Company (C-445-11)

Steven Coons, for State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (C-677-11)

Costs ENDORSEMENT

[ 1 ] This matter consisted of four individual motions which while similar in many respects also had individual factors.

[ 2 ] While it may have been possible to bring one combined motion to deal with the issues, each defendant ultimately decided to bring their own motion and in fact, Aviva Insurance Company, which represented two of the defendants, brought two motions and was represented by two different law firms.

[ 3 ] In addition the plaintiff brought two charter applications which were not argued at the time of the motions.

[ 4 ] In the defendants’ material, on the issue of costs, they point out that they have requested dockets from the plaintiffs’ lawyer so they can attempt to distinguish the time the plaintiffs’ lawyer spent on the motions verses the time they spent on the charter applications. None apparently was forthcoming and no explanation has been offered by plaintiffs’ counsel for not acceding to this request, nor has he given any estimate of the time he spent on the Charter issues.

[ 5 ] Based on the case of Hunt v. TD Securities Inc . 2003 (ON CA) , [2003] O.J. 3245 (Ont. C.A.) at para. 123 this is not a case for substantial indemnity costs.

[ 6 ] The plaintiffs’ ask for partial indemnity costs in $36,500 however there must be a deduction made for time spent on the charter applications.

[ 7 ] Although I have no evidence as to how much time was spent, I am choosing the figure of $8000 and therefore award the plaintiffs their costs of the motion in the amount of $28,500 plus HST.

[ 8 ] The amount shall be paid equally by each defendant and since Aviva Insurance Company chose to be represented by two different law firms they shall pay 50% of the costs.

J. W. Sloan J.

Date: March 15, 2012