Category Archives: Practice and Procedure

Pleadings, discovery and other issues involving the Rules of Civil Procedure.

Judge Disqualifies Expert for Lack of Impartiality

In a recent decision, Madam Justice Ellen MacDonald refused to permit a defence expert to give opinion evidence at trial. After reviewing a series of email messages that had been exchanged between the expert and certain of the defendants and … Continue reading

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C.A. Says Money Paid Pursuant to Mary Carter Agreement Must Be Deducted from Jury’s Award at Trial (Reducing Plaintiff’s Recovery to Zero)

Today’s decision of the Court of Appeal in Laudon v. Roberts was bad news for two of the three parties (the plaintiff and one defendant) but very good news for the other defendant. The action arose out of a boating … Continue reading

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Plaintiff in Prior Litigation Allowed to Give Evidence About IME Psychiatrist in Another Lawsuit

Master Robert Beaudoin has released an interesting ruling, dealing with a new (to us, anyway) wrinkle on independent medical examinations in personal injury actions. The case was Safi v. Steele. Shortly before the scheduled trial date, counsel for the defence … Continue reading

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Defendant in One MVA Action Entitled to Proceed with Third Party Claim Against Driver in Earlier Accident

Another shot has been fired in the ongoing judicial debate about how to deal with situations in which personal injury plaintiffs have been injured in separate accidents. We have looked at this issue in previous posts regarding Willoughby v. Weber, … Continue reading

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Lawyer Swearing Affidavit Can’t Be “Informed” by “the File”

In Kailayapillai v. Azzam, Mr. Justice Theodore Matlow has addressed a very frequently recurring practice point: the proper form of lawyers’ affidavits on information and belief, where the source of the information is not another human being but rather, “the … Continue reading

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What Information Must Be Provided at Discovery, Regarding Surveillance?

Mr. Justice John Cavarzan has provided some clarification about a small point that not-infrequently comes up in personal injury litigation: what questions must the defendant answer about surveillance that has been undertaken on the plaintiff? The case is Marchese v. … Continue reading

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Plaintiff’s Facebook Pages Not A “Fishing Expedition” by Defence, Judge Rules

In Leduc v. Roman, Mr. Justice David M. Brown allowed in part an appeal from an order of Master Dash, dealing with the Facebook page of a plaintiff in a personal injury action. The Master had refused the defence motion, … Continue reading

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C.A. Upholds Dismissal of Third Party Claim Against Plaintiff’s Lawyer

In Macchi S.P.A. v. New Solution Extrusion Inc., the Court of Appeal (Justices Rosenberg, Gillese and Blair) upheld the dismissal, by Mr. Justice Herman Wilton-Siegel, of a third party claim brought by the plaintiff against the defendants’ former lawyer. (The … Continue reading

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Judge Says Offer Made “Without Prejudice” Not An Offer Under Rule 49

Roma Construction (Niagara) Ltd. v. Dykstra Bros. Roofing (1992) Limited was a dispute about roofing deficiencies. The plaintiff had served an offer to settle in a letter that was marked, “Without Prejudice”. The defendant had orally rejected the offer but, as the trial approached, … Continue reading

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Divisional Court Says Standard of Review on Appeal of Master’s Order is Housen v. Nikolaisen’s “Palpable and Overriding Error”

In an important, just-released decision, the Divisional Court has clarified the standard of review on appeals from orders made by masters. The court, composed of Justices Sidney N. Lederman, Katherine E. Swinton and Wailan Low, unanimously held that on an appeal from … Continue reading

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