T. Haddy

The plaintiff brought a motion to strike the defendants' jury notice in a motor vehicle collision action scheduled for trial in February 2022.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Omicron variant, and the suspension of civil jury trials in London, the court found that waiting for a jury trial would cause unacceptable delay and prejudice.

Applying the principles from Louis v. Poitras, the court provisionally struck the jury notice and ordered the matter to proceed as a judge-alone trial.

The defendant in a slip and fall action brought a motion to compel the plaintiff to attend a second independent medical examination with an orthopaedic surgeon.

The defendant had previously arranged an examination with a physiatrist, who provided a report.

After the plaintiff served an expert report from an orthopaedic surgeon, the defendant sought a matching report.

The court applied the Bonello factors and dismissed the motion, finding that the defendant had an opportunity to fairly investigate the injuries with its first expert and was not entitled to a second examination simply to obtain a more favourable opinion or a matching specialty.