The appellant sought extensive interim relief effectively staying both an interim family law order and further steps in related Ontario Court of Justice proceedings pending appeal.
The court accepted that the motion judge had erred in treating the commencement of a Superior Court application as creating an automatic stay under s. 36(1) of the Family Law Act, but held that the error did not justify relief because any stay still had to be affirmatively established.
Applying the RJR-MacDonald framework, the court found a serious issue in the narrow sense of legal error, but no irreparable harm from requiring the appellant to continue complying with procedural directions in the long-running family proceeding.
The balance of convenience strongly favoured the respondent, given the appellant's duplicative proceedings, prior non-compliance, outstanding costs, and the advanced state of the Ontario Court of Justice litigation.
