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35604

Scott Philip Lower v. William Hay

(British Columbia) (Civil) (By Leave)

Docket

Judgments on applications for leave to appeal are rendered by the Court, but are not necessarily unanimous.

List of proceedings
Date Proceeding Filed By
(if applicable)
2014-06-13 Close file on Leave
2014-06-13 Copy of formal judgment sent to Registrar of the Court of Appeal and all parties
2014-06-13 Judgment on leave sent to the parties
2014-06-12 Judgment of the Court on the application for leave to appeal, The application for leave to appeal from the judgment of the Court of Appeal for British Columbia (Vancouver), Number CA040145, 2013 BCCA 389, dated September 6, 2013, is dismissed without costs.
Dismissed, without costs
2014-03-03 All materials on application for leave submitted to the Judges, CJ Cro Wa
2014-02-28 Correspondence received from, (Letter Form), Jonathan Meadows, email dated 02-28-2014, re.: Counsel only represents the Respondent Mr. William Hay. William Hay
2014-01-29 Book of authorities, (Book Form), 2 volumes Scott Philip Lower
2014-01-29 Correspondence received from, Karen Collins, re.: The Order of the Court of Appeal of B.C. has not yet been finalized. There is an outstanding issue related to costs of the Respondent before the B.C. C/A. Scott Philip Lower
2014-01-24 Order on motion to extend time
2014-01-24 Decision on motion to extend time, DeRg
Granted
2014-01-24 Submission of motion to extend time, to serve and file the reply, DeRg
2014-01-22 Response to motion to extend time, (included in the motion), Completed on: 2014-01-24 William Hay
2014-01-22 Motion to extend time, to file and serve the Reply, service and fees to come (rec'd 01-22-2014), Completed on: 2014-01-22, (Printed version filed on 2014-01-22) Scott Philip Lower
2014-01-22 Applicant's reply to respondent's argument, (Book Form), service to come, print copies to come (rec'd 01-22-2014), Completed on: 2014-01-22, (Printed version filed on 2014-01-22) Scott Philip Lower
2014-01-20 Correspondence received from, Agents for the Applicant, re.: a Reply will be filed late, by tomorrow or Wednesday January 22, 2014. Scott Philip Lower
2013-12-02 Respondent's response on the application for leave to appeal, (Book Form), service to come (rec'd 2013-12-03), Completed on: 2013-12-03 William Hay
2013-11-06 Letter acknowledging receipt of an incomplete application for leave to appeal and without formal Court of Appeal order
2013-11-05 Application for leave to appeal, (Book Form), service missing (rec'd 2013-11-06), 25B certificate missing (rec'd 2013-12-12), Final CA order missing- REC'D MAY 30, 2014. C/A ORDER FORM REC'D., Completed on: 2014-01-06 Scott Philip Lower

Parties

Please note that in the case of closed files, the “Status” column reflects the status of the parties at the time of the proceedings. For more information about the proceedings and about the dates when the file was open, please consult the docket of the case in question.

Main parties

Main parties - Appellants
Name Role Status
Lower, Scott Philip Applicant Active

v.

Main parties - Respondents
Name Role Status
Hay, William Respondent Active

Counsel

Party: Lower, Scott Philip

Counsel
Name
Steven N. Mansfield
Contact information
Bayshore Law Group
753 Cardero St.
Vancouver, British Columbia
V6G 2G3
Telephone: (604) 669-8900
FAX: (604) 669-8850
Email: sm@bayshorelaw.com
Agent
Name
Robert E. Houston, Q.C.
Contact information
Burke-Robertson
441 MacLaren Street
Suite 200
Ottawa, Ontario
K2P 2H3
Telephone: (613) 236-9665
FAX: (613) 235-4430
Email: rhouston@burkerobertson.com

Party: Hay, William

Counsel
Name
Jonathan Meadows
Contact information
Harper Grey LLP
3200 Vancouver Centre
650 W. Georgia Street
Vancouver, British Columbia
V6B 4P7
Telephone: (604) 687-0411
FAX: (604) 669-9385
Agent
Name
Henry S. Brown, Q.C.
Contact information
Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP
2600 - 160 Elgin St
P.O. Box 466, Stn "D"
Ottawa, Ontario
K1P 1C3
Telephone: (613) 233-1781
FAX: (613) 788-3433
Email: henry.brown@gowlings.com

Summary

Keywords

None.

Summary

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.


Civil procedure — Parties — Addition — Costs — Evidence — Witnesses — Witness immunity — Maintenance — Witness acting as an advocate for party — Whether the applicable law prevented appeal court from ordering of costs against a non-party — What principles guide a decision to award of costs against a non-party in a family law case — Whether appeal court misconceived and misapplied the rule of maintenance in a family law cost setting — Whether the “witness immunity rule” can block a cost award against a non-party — Whether costs are an exception to the immunity rule — If immunity is a consideration in costs, what is the scope of immunity — Whether the court set the evidentiary bar too high for a summary process on costs — Whether the lower courts erred by making findings in regards to all of the legal issues at the motion stage.

In the course of a custody battle, Dr. Hay, a psychiatrist treating the respondent was called to testify. The trial judge was very critical of Dr. Hay’s evidence and did not accept it. The applicant moved to have Dr. Hay added as a party for the purposes of having special costs assessed against him.

The trial judge held that the threshold for adding a party had not been met, and, without determining whether Dr. Hay had testified as a lay witness or an expert witness, concluded that Dr. Hay was protected by witness immunity. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.


Lower court rulings

July 20, 2012
Supreme Court of British Columbia

E084109, 2012 BCSC 1087

Motion to add party dismissed

September 6, 2013
Court of Appeal for British Columbia (Vancouver)

CA040145, 2013 BCCA 389

Appeal dismissed

Filed documents

The memorandums of argument on an application for leave to appeal will be posted here 30 days after leave to appeal has been granted unless they contain personal information, information that is subject to a publication ban, or any other information that is not part of the public record. You may also obtain copies of the memorandum by filling out the Request for Court records form or by contacting the Court’s Records Centre either by email at records-dossiers@scc-csc.ca or by telephone at 613-996-8666 or at 1-844-365-9662.

If you have questions about a memorandum of argument or want to use a memorandum of argument, please contact the author of the memorandum of argument directly. Their name appears at the end of the memorandum of argument. The contact information for counsel is found in the “Counsel” tab of this page.

Downloadable PDFs

Not available

The factums of the appellant, the respondent and the intervener will be posted here at least 2 weeks before the hearing unless they contain personal information, information that is subject to a publication ban, or any other information that is not part of the public record. You may also obtain copies of factums by filling out the Request for Court records form or by contacting the Court’s Records Centre either by email at records-dossiers@scc-csc.ca or by telephone at 613-996-8666 or at 1-844-365-9662.

If you have questions about a factum or want permission to use a factum, please contact the author of the factum directly. Their contact information appears on the first page of each factum.

Downloadable PDFs

Not available

The condensed books of the appellant, the respondent and the intervener will be posted here upon receipt of the electronic version, 2 days prior to the scheduled appeal hearing. You may also obtain copies of condensed books by filling out the Request for Court records form or by contacting the Court’s Records Centre either by email at records-dossiers@scc-csc.ca or by telephone at 613-996-8666 or at 1-844-365-9662.

If you have questions about a condensed book or want permission to use a condensed book, please contact the author of the condensed book directly. Their contact information appears on the first page of each condensed book.

Downloadable PDFs

Not available

Webcasts

Not available.

Date modified: 2025-02-27