Court File and Parties
SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE – ONTARIO
RE: The Estate of Armand Letestu Deceased by its Litigation Administrator, Christopher Letestu - Plaintiff
AND:
Ritlyn Investments Limited - Defendant
BEFORE: James W. Sloan
COUNSEL: Joel P. McCoy - Counsel, for the Plaintiff
Kieran C. Dickson & Kenneth J. Raddatz - Counsel, for the Defendant
HEARD: September 30, 2016
Costs ENDORSEMENT
1This matter was dismissed on an unusual jurisdictional issue.
2Unfortunately neither party contemplated the jurisdictional issue until sometime in just before or at the pretrial hearing.
3Once the issue was raised the pretrial judge ordered that the issue of jurisdiction should be resolved on a long motion rather than at a trial.
4The defendant now seeks partial indemnity costs in the amount of $42,500.
5These costs include the defendant’s costs from the filing of its statement of defence in June or July 2012 and include productions, examinations for discovery and two pre-trials along with preparation for trial which was scheduled to begin almost immediately following the 2nd pretrial.
6If the defendant had raised the jurisdictional issue and brought a motion at the start of the litigation the cost to both parties would have been modest by comparison to what the defendant now seeks.
7Since the defendant was successful in having the action dismissed on a jurisdictional issue which could have been raised much earlier in the proceedings I am not prepared to award costs for approximately five years litigation.
8Under all the circumstances of this case, I fix the defendant’s costs $7,500 inclusive of HST and disbursements.
Justice James W. Sloan
Date: November 7, 2016