Lacaria v. Lacaria, 2026 ONSC 4033

Superior Court of Justice (Estates List)

Citation: Lacaria v. Lacaria, 2026 ONSC 4033 Court File No.: CV-24-00722121-00ES Date: 2026-07-10

In the matter of the personal care of Caterina Lacaria

Between: Cosimo Lacaria (Applicant) and Caterina Lacaria, Bruno J. Lacaria, Damiano Rocco Antonio (Tony) R.A. Lacaria, Salvatore Lacaria and The Public Guardian and Trustee (Respondents)

Before: Justice A.A. Sanfilippo

Counsel: Matthew Furrow, for the Applicant Bruno J. Lacaria, Damiano Rocco Antonio (Tony) R.A. Lacaria, and Salvatore Lacaria, Respondents acting in person

Heard: June 29, 2026

Case Conference Endorsement

1By Endorsement dated January 30, 2026, I determined the Applicant, Cosimo Lacaria’s, claim for costs arising from this contested guardianship Application, which was rendered moot by the death of the Respondent, Caterina Lacaria: Lacaria v. Lacaria, 2026 ONSC 591 (the “Costs Endorsement”). I awarded the Applicant costs fixed in the amount of $12,000.00, all inclusive of legal fees, disbursements, and applicable taxes, payable from the assets of Caterina’s Estate. The Applicant has not yet taken out a formal Order.

2The Applicant arranged this Case Conference to request a reconsideration on the submission that a “mathematical error or oversight” was made in Costs Endorsement. Specifically, paragraphs 7 and 12 of the Costs Endorsement accurately sets out the Applicant’s claim in costs of $90,453.79, all inclusive, of which the Applicant claimed partial indemnity costs of $54,521.21, all inclusive, payable by the Respondents and $35,932.58, all inclusive, payable from the assets of the Estate. However, paragraph 18 of the Costs Endorsement states that the Applicant incurred actual legal fees prior to Caterina’s death of $21,615.00, plus HST, and actual legal fees of $69,705.50, plus HST after Caterina’s death to pursue this claim of costs, when the Bill of Costs shows that the Applicant incurred $51,560.00, plus HST in actual legal fees prior to Caterina’s death and legal fees of $39,760.50, plus HST thereafter to pursue his claim in costs. This means that about 44% of the actual legal fees claimed by the Applicant were incurred to seek costs.

3The Applicant submitted that the error in describing the amount of the Applicant’s costs actually incurred before Caterina’s death as opposed to after Caterina’s death supports a reconsideration of the cost award, relying on Scott, Pichelli & Easter Ltd. et al. v. Dupont Developments Ltd. et al., 2019 ONSC 6789, at para. 11, and Rickett v. Rickett, , [1990] 71 D.L.R. (4th) 734, at para. 4. While these decisions establish that inadvertent arithmetic errors can give rise to reconsideration of an order that has not yet been issued, in each case the Court declined to reconsider the order.

4I decline to reconsider my costs determination. The misstatement of the proportion of costs actually incurred prior to Caterina’s death as opposed to after Caterina’s death did not affect my costs analysis. In paragraph 27 of the Costs Endorsement, I held as follows:

Here, while I accept that the hourly rates used by the Applicant are reasonable, I do not accept that 146 hours of lawyers’ time was reasonably incurred to prepare a statutory guardianship application and negotiate the Agreements, or was in the reasonable expectation of the parties or proportionate. Considering all the factors under Rule 57.01, I find that the fair, reasonable, and proportionate amount of costs to be fixed for the Applicant bringing this statutory guardianship Application, including the negotiation and implementation of the Care Agreement and the PSW Agreement, is $12,000.00, all inclusive of legal fees, disbursements, and applicable taxes. [Emphasis added.]

5146 hours of lawyers’ time is the amount of lawyers’ time that preceded Caterina’s death. 146 hours of lawyers’ time accurately corresponds to the Applicant having incurred $51,560.00, plus HST, in actual legal fees prior to Caterina’s death. Even though paragraph 18 inaccurately referred to this amount as $21,615.00, plus HST, this had no impact on my analysis or on my finding that 146 hours, representing $51,560.00, plus HST in legal fees, was not incurred reasonably and was not within the reasonable expectation of the parties or proportionate.

6The Respondents requested costs of this Case Conference. I decline to grant costs of a Case Conference convened to address an issue of costs. There shall be no award of costs of this Case Conference.