The moving defendants, 1171328 Ontario Ltd. and Living Properties Inc., brought a motion to dismiss the plaintiff's action for delay under Rule 24.01.
The action, arising from flooding incidents in 2013, was commenced in 2015, and no significant steps were taken by the plaintiff to advance it since 2018.
The court found the delay to be inordinate (7.5 years from commencement, 6 years of inactivity), inexcusable (no cogent explanation provided despite multiple opportunities), and prejudicial to the defendants (rebuttable presumption of prejudice not overcome, actual prejudice due to lost documents and unavailable witnesses).
The motion was granted, and the plaintiff's action was dismissed with costs.
