Tanzeela Ansari

The plaintiff, Maria Prete, brought a motion for leave to add three new defendants and to amend her statement of claim in a slip-and-fall action.

The court found that the motion to add Avison Young (Canada) Inc. as a defendant was brought outside the applicable limitation period and must be dismissed.

The motion was granted as against the other two proposed defendants, Bay International Inc. and Long & Morris Property Management Ltd., who did not oppose the motion, but without prejudice to their right to plead a limitation defence.

Costs were awarded to Avison Young.

The defendants, Suhaib Alekozai and Behzad Dalf-Ajresh, sought costs following a ten-day jury trial where they were entirely successful on the issues of causation and damages.

The plaintiff, Rhonda Anderson, did not make costs submissions.

The defendants requested costs on a partial indemnity basis, totaling $72,655.65.

The court, applying section 131 of the Courts of Justice Act and Rule 57.01 of the Rules of Civil Procedure, found the requested legal fees fair and reasonable given the trial's complexity and the plaintiff's initial claims versus the jury's zero damages award.

However, the court disallowed certain disbursements for lack of explanation or proportionality, ultimately awarding the defendants costs totaling $68,137.68.