Z. Smith

The plaintiff (defendant to the counterclaim) brought a motion seeking an order that the defendant (plaintiff by counterclaim) post further security for costs in the amount of $174,000.00.

The court found the requested amount excessive, noting inflated estimates for lawyers' time.

Exercising its broad discretion, the court ordered the defendant to post a further all-inclusive installment of $70,000.00 as security for costs of the counterclaim.

Costs of the motion were awarded to the defendant in the cause, as the ordered amount was closer to their position and they had attempted to settle.

Following a finding of oppression, the applicants sought costs of $46,000 for the oppression application and $3,900 for a related application.

The respondents argued that an award of costs was premature.

The court agreed with the respondents, finding that it was premature to order costs on the oppression application and the related application given outstanding issues.

No costs orders were made at this time.