Court File and Parties

COURT FILE NO.: CV-13-10210-00CL
DATE: 20131209

SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE – ONTARIO
COMMERCIAL LIST

RE: YELLOW PAGES GROUP CORP.,

Plaintiff

AND:

STEPHEN CURRY, NEAL ROMANCHYCH and 411 LOCAL SEARCH CORP.

Defendants

BEFORE: Newbould J.

COUNSEL:
Andrew Bernstein and Myriam Seers, for the defendants/moving party
Peter Howard and James S.F. Wilson, for the plaintiff/responding party

Endorsement

[1] This endorsement deals with costs following my decision of October 30, 2013 in which I stayed the action pending an arbitration and held defendants were entitled to their costs.

[2] The defendants seek costs of $61,538.71 all in, including fees before HST of $50,338.10. The plaintiffs say the fees should be set “in the range of $25,000”. The plaintiffs filed their own cost outline for comparative purposes which indicates an amount for fees of about $22,000. No objection is taken to the disbursements claimed.

[3] The defendants have not claimed time spent by students and legal research and preparing the factum and brief of authorities, and lawyers time in preparing for cross-examinations and preparing affidavits have been reduced. Law clerks time in preparing the cost outline is also not being claimed. What all these deductions are is not disclosed. Further, about $6,000 not claimed was spent by the defendants in defence of a motion by the plaintiff to strike portions of an affidavit served by the defendants to be heard at the opening of the motion which was not heard separately.

[4] One of the reasons for the difference in the bills of the two parties is that the defendants have sought costs of 60% of their actual billing rates based on Stetson Oil & Gas Ltd. v. Stifel Nicolaus Canada Inc., 2013 ONSC 5213 and the authorities referred to in that case, whereas the bill of costs of the plaintiffs claims only the rates recommended by the civil rules committee originally in 2002. As the Stetson Oil case was my decision, I can hardly quarrel with the philosophy of that case. I would note, however, that in this case Mr. Bernstein, who was called in 1999, has been billed out to the defendants at an hourly rate of $825 which seems high compared to the hourly rate billed by Mr. Howard, a 1982 call, of $875. I wonder too about the billing rate of Ms. Seers, a 2008 call, at $590.

[5] When one looks at the amount claimed, which is net a good deal of work not claimed, I must say that the amount of work seems to have been overdone.

[6] In the end, the amount taxed must be reasonable in the circumstances and reflect the factors in rule 57.1, including what the plaintiff could reasonable expect to pay in a losing cause. In all the circumstances, I fix the fees of the plaintiffs, inclusive of HST, at $45,000. Together with disbursement of $4,656.66, the total amount to be paid by the plaintiff to the defendants is $49,656.66 to be paid within 30 days.

Newbould J.

Date: December 9, 2013