Category Archives: Practice and Procedure

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

Rule 53.03 Doesn’t Apply to Expert Witnesses Not Retained for Purposes of the Litigation

Subrule 53.03(1) of the Rules of Civil Procedure provides that, “[a] party who intends to call an expert witness at trial shall, not less than 90 days before the commencement of the trial, serve on every other party to the … Continue reading

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Master’s Decision Reviews Factors Influencing Changing Place of Trial Selected by Plaintiff

In Rushnell v. Corporation of the City of Belleville, the plaintiff had been struck by a bus owned by the City of Belleville. The accident had taken place there. The plaintiff’s solicitors had named Toronto (where their office was located) … Continue reading

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C.A. Encourages Auto Insurers to Make Offers Without Applying IA Deductible

 Some very good news for the plaintiff’s bar today, from the Court of Appeal: insurers’ offers to settle in MVA cases should contain “cushions” against the statutory deductibles. In Rider et al. v. Dydyk, the Court (Justices Jurianz, MacPherson and … Continue reading

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Div. Ct. Says Defence Medical, Surveillance Report from Tort Claim Can’t Be Used in Subsequent AB Litigation

In Kitchenham v. AXA Insurance Canada, the Divisional Court has considered the “deemed undertaking” rule (Rule 30.1.01) in the context of personal injury litigation. The decision of the Court was written by Associate Chief Justice Douglas Cunningham, concurred in by … Continue reading

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Master Orders Plaintiff to Produce Identical Copy of Hard Drive From Which Some of Its Productions Had Been Taken

Hummingbird v. Mustafa et al. involved some interesting issues in the evolving law of “e-discovery”. The defendants asked the court to order production of the hard drive of a computer that the defendant Mustafa had used while in the employ … Continue reading

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Notice of Intention to File Medical Reports, Business Records Must Be Given Even to Defendant Noted in Default

In Vointsev v. Irina International Tours Limited, Justice Julie Alexandra Thorburn had to deal with an interesting practice point. The plaintiff had claimed damages resulting from having fallen while on a tour of Toronto with the defendant, Irina International Tours … Continue reading

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Master Says Communications with Paralegal Are Privileged (in this case, at least)

In what is apparently the first case to consider the issue, Master R. Dash has held that communications passing between a paralegal and his client were privileged from production in a civil action. The case is an interesting one, partly … Continue reading

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Settlement Agreements to be Evaluated Objectively, Not Subjectively: C.A.

In Olivieri v. Sherman et al., the Court of Appeal today allowed an appeal from a decision of Justice Colin Campbell, in which His Honour had refused to enforce a settlement of a defamation suit, involving claims for millions of … Continue reading

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Corporate Insured Permitted to Claim Damages for Mental Distress on Behalf of Its Officers in Fire Insurance Claim

In 539091 Ontario Ltd. v. Allianz Insurance, Madam Justice Helen Pierce was dealing with various proposed amendments to the statement of claim in a fire insurance case. The motion raised several interesting issues but of particular note was the request of … Continue reading

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Privilege Waived on Expert’s Report After It Was Reviewed by Second Expert

UPDATE: We have learned that the plaintiffs have sought leave to appeal Justice Power’s decision. We will report the outcome of that motion, which is to be heard on July 20, 2007.  It is our understanding that the main (although not the … Continue reading

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