Canada Case Law

Nouhi v. Pourtaghi

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court found the defendants had not complied with the registrar's production order and had filed misleading affidavits, but the non-compliance did not warrant a permanent stay or striking of the special costs award; the appropriate course is to dismiss the application, refer the matter back to Registrar Gaily to implement tailored disclosure and case management, and allow the defendants a further opportunity to comply while ordering each party to bear their own costs.

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• Special costs assessment
• Solicitor-client privilege
• Document production
• Stay and striking remedies
• Registrar jurisdiction
• Proportionality of sanctions

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Tung v. Lu

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

Material facts must be pleaded for non-family civil claims in family proceedings; where pleadings contain no material facts the court may consider affidavit evidence to test whether claims are 'capable of being repaired' and whether they are bound to fail. Applying the law to the facts before the court, the judge struck or dismissed the non-family claims: all of Nancy's civil claims were struck; all but two of Anshan's civil claims were struck; the two surviving Anshan claims (conspiracy against Hans and breach of contract against CIBC) were dismissed on summary trial because Nancy's contrave…

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• Pleadings and particulars
• Striking pleadings
• Summary trial
• Breach of fiduciary duty
• Intentional interference with economic interests
• Conspiracy

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J.S.M. v. T.K.N.

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

Interim family-law reasons granting child and spousal support, imputing income to the claimant, ordering arrears, and limiting document production.

• Child support
• Spousal support
• Income imputation
• Interim orders
• Document production
• Retroactive support

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Lowndes, Drosdick, Kantor & Reed, P.A. v. Hirji

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The petition was granted in part and dismissed in part. The Court ordered Hirji to produce specified, narrowly tailored categories of documents relevant to the transaction and causation (including due diligence materials, MyApps' financial statements and condition, business outlook documents, communications between Hirji and identified key persons specifically concerning the proposed or actual transaction, documents evidencing Hirji's identification of MyApps as a target, communications to investors concerning the merger transaction, and communications about advisory contracts to the extent t…

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• Letters rogatory
• Compelled examination
• Document production
• Relevance and overbreadth
• Causation
• Pre‑merger due diligence

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Acciona Wastewater Solutions LP v. Greater Vancouver Sewerage and Drainage District

Court

British Columbia Court of Appeal

Leave to appeal was refused because the application failed the leave test: the privilege determinations were largely discretionary, fact-specific and within the chambers judge's purview; the appeal was not of sufficient significance to the practice or the litigation, the points were not clearly meritorious given deference to the judge's factual and contextual findings, and granting leave would unduly hinder the progress of the action.

Source excerpt

• Case-by-case privilege
• Wigmore criteria
• Document production
• Closed council/board meetings
• Leave to appeal

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12007231 Canada Inc. v. Foster

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court held the plaintiffs met the threshold under Rule 7-1(11) to compel further production from Barber because the requested financial, tax and rental records relate directly to contested issues of commingling and receipt/use of funds; the court also ordered specific, narrowly-described production from the non-party Bank under Rule 7-1(18) because the documents were precisely specified and potentially probative of material facts; Barber and the Bank must produce the listed documents within 21 days, plaintiffs must pay the Bank's reasonable charges and must provide counsel for Barber with…

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• Document production
• Discovery
• Non-party production
• Relevance
• Rule 7-1
• Guano test

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International Wood Products, LLC v. CLG Enterprises, Inc.

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The petition is granted in part and dismissed in part: the court declines to enforce broad, duplicative and unexplained document production requests and limits compelled production to narrowly tailored 2022 documents relevant to alleged manufacturing defects (documents exchanged between Cheng and Piccard about potential defects and any 2022 documents between Cheng and Interworld representatives regarding the product), permits a limited deposition on manufacturing defects, Cheng's July 2023 inspection, and complaints (including inquiry into Cheng's affidavit claim of absence of complaints), or…

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• Letters rogatory
• International comity
• Document production
• Depositions
• Relevance
• Corporate control of documents

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Axion Ventures Inc. v. Bonner

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The application to disqualify WT was dismissed because the evidence did not establish wilful blindness or intentional misleading of the court, lead counsel was not shown to be a likely material witness at this stage, and there is no private duty owed by counsel to opposing parties; removal mid‑trial would unjustifiably deprive Axion of its choice of counsel and delay the trial. Disqualification may be revisited if new evidence shows counsel will give material testimony or the court was misled.

Source excerpt

• Counsel disqualification
• Wilful blindness
• Document production
• Duty to the court
• Counsel as witness
• Spoliation

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Katz v. Kosikar

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court dismissed a bias recusal request and mostly awarded costs to the defendants, including forthwith costs to Mr. Kosikar, while refusing special costs and summary assessment.

• Costs awards
• Special costs/uplift
• Costs payable in any event of the cause
• Recusal for reasonable apprehension of bias
• Stay of proceedings
• Discontinuance

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Woodard v. Hewitt

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court dismissed the petitioner's applications for immediate payment, to set aside Justice Baker's order, and for transcripts because service was ineffective (failure to serve the entered substituted service order under Rule 4-4(2)), there was no misrepresentation warranting setting aside, and no legal basis for transcripts; the court ordered limited document production focused on communications and calculations regarding non-resident tax withholding, proof of payment of the $364.88 invoice, and subledger/calculations related to the Sage Bay sale (to be produced by respondent and Ms. Clark…

Source excerpt

• Executor removal
• Accounting
• Probate
• Substituted service
• Security for costs
• Non-resident withholding tax

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