T.J. McCarthy

Following the dismissal of the defendants' motion for summary judgment, the court determined the costs of the motion.

The plaintiffs sought $21,000, while the defendants proposed $4,500.

The court found that costs should be payable forthwith rather than deferred to the trial judge.

Applying principles of proportionality under the simplified procedure and discounting time spent on trial preparation, the court awarded the plaintiffs $7,500 in costs on a partial indemnity basis.

The defendant, completely successful at a jury trial where plaintiffs claimed $4.5 million, sought partial indemnity costs of $180,787.95.

The plaintiffs opposed, arguing the lack of a Rule 49 offer to settle should deny costs and that the quantum was excessive.

The court affirmed that costs should follow the event, even without a formal offer, and ordered costs against all plaintiffs jointly and severally.

The court reduced the defendant's claimed fees by disallowing law clerk attendance at trial and adjusting hourly rates for counsel and law clerks.

Expert report costs were also reduced from $27,912.50 to $15,000.00.

Travel costs for counsel and the instructing client were allowed due to the trial's transfer to Thunder Bay at the plaintiffs' convenience.

The plaintiff suffered a severe traumatic brain injury in a multi-vehicle highway collision.

He lost control of his vehicle after being cut off by an unidentified driver, struck the median, and was subsequently T-boned by the defendant's vehicle.

The court found the unidentified driver 70% liable and the defendant 30% liable for following too closely.

The plaintiff was awarded over $3.2 million in damages, primarily for future care costs.

The plaintiff's claim against his own insurer for unidentified motorist coverage was dismissed because the identified defendant was found partially liable.

The plaintiff in a motor vehicle accident case moved to admit his out-of-court statements to police for substantive use, as he suffered from post-traumatic amnesia and could not testify to the events.

The court admitted the statements under the principled approach to hearsay, finding them necessary and sufficiently reliable, corroborated by an independent witness.

The court also excluded the investigating officer's written commentary in the accident report, ruling it was inadmissible opinion evidence beyond the officer's expertise.

The plaintiff in a motor vehicle accident action moved to admit several 911 calls into evidence under the principled approach to hearsay.

The plaintiff suffered a head injury and had no memory of the collision, and the callers were either unavailable or had impaired memories, establishing necessity.

The court found the calls possessed threshold reliability as they were made contemporaneously with the events to emergency services without motive to fabricate.

The motion was granted, and the 911 calls were ruled admissible.