Scott Kugler

Following a finding of civil contempt against the defendant for repeatedly forging bank records and lying under oath, the court held a penalty hearing.

Applying criminal sentencing principles, the court weighed aggravating factors, including the deliberate and repeated nature of the deceit, against mitigating factors such as the defendant's eventual remorse and lack of prior record.

The court determined that a significant costs award was the appropriate sanction to punish and deter the conduct, ordering the defendant to pay $400,000 as a penalty, plus $44,118.46 for the costs of the hearing on a substantial indemnity basis.

The applicant tenant sought a declaration that an agreement of purchase and sale was binding and an order for specific performance.

The commercial lease contained an obligation for the tenant to purchase the property once the landlord completed environmental remediation and provided a consultant's certificate.

The tenant attempted to trigger the purchase by waiving the requirement for the certificate, even though remediation was not complete.

The court dismissed the application, finding that the contract required the landlord to first advise that remediation was complete before the tenant could waive the certificate.

The court also held that while the provision was not a true condition precedent, it benefited both parties and could not be unilaterally waived by the tenant.

The plaintiffs brought a motion to approve a $13,375,000 settlement in a class action against a fertility doctor who allegedly used incorrect genetic material, including his own, during artificial insemination procedures.

The court found the settlement to be fair, reasonable, and in the best interests of the class members, noting the novel legal issues and the emotional toll of continued litigation.

The court also approved class counsel's 25% contingency fee of $3,343,750, recognizing the significant risk, time investment, and successful outcome achieved.

Following the dismissal of a proposed $240 billion class action regarding a data breach, the successful defendants sought costs.

The plaintiffs argued costs should be limited to a partial indemnity scale for a pleadings motion.

The court found that the plaintiffs' unsubstantiated allegations of professional misconduct against defence counsel, combined with their egregious violations of pleading rules and massive expansion of the claim, justified costs on a substantial indemnity basis.

The court awarded $725,000 to Capital One and $500,000 to Amazon Web.

The plaintiffs brought a motion to certify a $240 billion class action against a financial institution and a cloud storage provider following a massive data breach perpetrated by a former employee of the storage provider.

The plaintiffs alleged numerous causes of action, including intrusion upon seclusion, misappropriation of personality, conversion, breach of confidence, and negligence, arguing that the defendants misappropriated and misused the class members' personal information by retaining and aggregating it beyond its initial purpose.

The court dismissed the certification motion, finding that the plaintiffs' Fresh as Amended Statement of Claim egregiously contravened the rules of pleading and failed to disclose any legally viable causes of action against the corporate defendants.

The pleading was struck in its entirety without leave to amend.

The plaintiffs in a proposed class action regarding a data breach sought court approval of a settlement with the defendant GitHub.

The court declined to approve the settlement as proposed, noting that it could not make a binding ruling on its own jurisdiction based on the consent of the parties, and that the substantive merits of the settlement (essentially a discontinuance) did not support approval at this stage.

At the parties' request, the motion was adjourned sine die.

The plaintiffs brought a motion for approval of a class action settlement regarding alleged securities misrepresentations by Colt Resources, Inc. The court approved the $950,000 settlement, finding it fair and reasonable given the litigation risks and the statutory liability limits under the Securities Act.

The court also approved the Plan of Allocation, the notice plan, a $5,000 honorarium for each representative plaintiff due to their exceptional efforts in initiating the claim, and class counsel fees of $300,000 plus disbursements.

In a proposed class action regarding a data breach, the plaintiffs brought a motion for an injunction to enjoin or supervise communications from the defendants to putative class members.

The defendants intended to send a notice to 51,000 affected individuals offering free credit monitoring.

The court dismissed the motion, finding no reason to intervene as the proposed notice did not affect the integrity of the class proceedings or compromise the putative class members' rights.

The plaintiffs in a proposed class action regarding a data breach brought motions to compel answers to questions refused on cross-examinations of two affiants and an omnibus motion to strike out various affidavits, factum paragraphs, and a sealing motion.

The court dismissed the refusals motions, finding the questions asked were beyond the narrow scope of the underlying motions (an injunction motion and a sealing motion) and were properly refused.

The court also dismissed the omnibus motion, finding no reason to strike the evidence or alter the timetable for the upcoming jurisdiction and certification motions.

The applicant brought a motion to enforce undertakings and refusals from cross-examinations and for leave to file a supplementary affidavit in the context of an oppression application.

The court held that questions regarding the existence of directors' and officers' insurance policies need not be answered, as the rules compelling disclosure of insurance in actions do not apply to applications where discovery is not available.

However, questions regarding the corporation's financial statements were ordered to be answered.

The court also granted the applicant leave to file a supplementary affidavit based on newly disclosed financial information.

Following a jurisdiction motion where the defendant insurers successfully argued that the court lacked jurisdiction over the proposed class actions, the insurers sought costs of approximately $620,000.

The court found this request preposterous and excessive, fixing costs payable by the plaintiffs to the 13 non-settling insurers at $28,000 on a partial indemnity basis.

The costs payable by the government regulator to the plaintiffs were settled at $12,500.

The plaintiffs filed proposed class actions against 15 auto insurers and the provincial regulator, FSCO, alleging improper deduction of HST from statutory accident benefits.

The defendant insurers brought motions to dismiss the actions for lack of jurisdiction, arguing the Licence Appeal Tribunal (LAT) has exclusive jurisdiction over such disputes.

The court agreed, dismissing the actions against the insurers and refusing to approve two early settlements, as the claims fell squarely within the LAT's exclusive jurisdiction under s. 280 of the Insurance Act.

However, the court found it had jurisdiction to hear the claims against FSCO for regulatory negligence, as those allegations did not directly concern benefit entitlements or amounts.

The plaintiff brought a motion for certification of a proposed securities class action for settlement purposes.

The action alleged misrepresentations regarding mineral resource estimates.

Following a recent legal decision that would likely render the plaintiff's statutory claim statute-barred, the parties reached a settlement agreement wherein the defendants would pay $250,000 to the class.

The court found that all criteria for certification under section 5(1) of the Class Proceedings Act, 1992 were satisfied and granted the motion.

In a national class action alleging price fixing in the Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) market, the representative plaintiff sought approval of multiple settlement agreements with several defendant manufacturers under the Class Proceedings Act, 1992.

The proposed settlements totalled $3,050,000 and followed earlier settlements with other defendants.

The court considered whether the agreements were fair, reasonable, and in the best interests of the class, and reviewed the proposed distribution protocol, administration protocol, claims administrator appointment, class counsel fees, and representative plaintiff honorarium.

The court approved the settlements, associated distribution and administration plans, class counsel fees and disbursements, and dismissed the remaining claim against the final defendant.

The court accepted the settlements as falling within the zone of reasonableness and consistent with the interests of the class.