Court File and Parties

COURT FILE NO.: CV-09-61869

DATE: 2020/11/23

SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE - ONTARIO

RE: Malgorzata Dankiewicz, Plaintiff

AND:

Todd Joseph Sullivan, Defendant

BEFORE: Justice I.F. Leach

COUNSEL: John Goudy, for the Plaintiff Matthew Dupre, for the Defendant

HEARD: November 23, 2020

ENDORSEMENT

[1] This endorsement follows on:

a. my reasons for judgment released in relation to this matter on November 4, 2020, addressing the "liability phase" of the directed trial of the contempt proceedings herein;

b. my endorsement of June 26, 2020, addressing case management issues discussed during a Rule 50.13 case conference conducted by telephone earlier that day; and

c. a further Rule 50.13 case conference conducted by telephone this afternoon, at my direction, to address issues raised by correspondence sent to me by defence counsel on November 16, 2020.

[2] In the latter correspondence, defence counsel indicated that he had received instructions to proceed with a defence motion "for a new trial and the admission of fresh evidence forthwith", and anticipated doing so at the trial continuation that apparently had been scheduled to take place on December 9 and 10, 2020.

[3] I directed the further case conference to clarify what was being proposed, and to determine whether the proposal raised fundamental issues that might be better addressed and resolved, one way or the other, prior to continuation of the trial.

[4] Extended discussion with counsel during the further case conference distilled the immediate issue to one focused on whether the defendant should be permitted to introduce and rely on certain evidence, filed with the court in a supplementary motion record, which plaintiff counsel characterized as a collateral attack on the finality of matters already decided.

[5] In particular, plaintiff counsel intends to argue that the evidence attempts to call into question findings and decisions made by Justice Rady in her judgment of June 24, 2011, which was not appealed, and the finality of which apparently was accepted by the defendant during the proceedings before me in March of 2019, prior to my decision in relation to the liability phase of these contempt proceedings.

[6] After hearing from counsel, and consulting with the trial co-ordinator to confirm further date availability, I made the following further directions:

a. the hearing date of December 9, 2020, currently reserved for this matter, will be vacated;

b. the hearing date of December 10, 2020, currently reserved for this matter, will be retained and used for argument of a plaintiff motion to strike portions of the trial evidence filed by the defendant prior to hearing/argument of the remaining issues specified in paragraph 13(a) of my endorsement dated June 26, 2020;

c. to ready that plaintiff motion for hearing on December 10, 2020, counsel will abide by the following timetable:

i. the plaintiff shall serve and file her motion record, factum and book of authorities, (focused on the evidence admissibility issue), on or before Friday, November 27, 2020;

ii. the defendant shall serve and file his responding motion record, factum and book of authorities, (focused on the evidence admissibility issue), on or before December 4, 2020;

iii. the plaintiff shall serve and file her reply motion material, (if any), on or before December 8, 2020; and

iv. the aforesaid motion material shall be delivered to me for review on December 9, 2020;

d. the deadline for preparation, service and filing of the parties' facta and books of authorities relating to hearing/argument of the remaining issues specified in paragraph 13(a) of my endorsement dated June 26, 2020, shall be extended to January 7, 2021, prior to which I shall release my decision relating to the plaintiff's motion focused on the evidence admissibility issue; and

e. the remaining issues specified in paragraph 13(a) of my endorsement dated June 26, 2020, shall be adjourned to January 14 and 15, 2020, for hearing/argument.

[7] Costs of the further Rule 50.13 case conference are reserved to my final cost determination, to be made at the conclusion of the trial proceedings.

"Justice I.F. Leach"

Justice I.F. Leach

Date: November 23, 2020