Case information

Civil procedure — Summary disposition — Whether motion judge erred in striking out applicant’s statement of claim

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In 2018, the Government of Ontario erroneously transferred ownership of the applicant’s vehicle. While this underlying error has since been resolved, the applicant has commenced multiple actions against the Government of Ontario in relation to these events. In the instant case, the applicant named the Attorney General, the Premier, and an individual Crown lawyer as defendants. The allegations in this action concern the conduct of the named defendants as well as individual Crown counsel and members of the judiciary. In 2021, the Crown requested that the applicant’s various actions be case-managed. In her response to this request, the applicant stated that she intended to amend her claim in the instant case to add the Crown in right of Ontario as a defendant. The applicant was not immediately able to amend her claim as intended. While she eventually obtained authorization to do so from the Divisional Court, she commenced a fresh action in 2021 that duplicated the claims from the instant case. That action was dismissed in 2023 following a summary trial. The respondent then moved to strike the applicant’s claim in the instant case.

The motion judge held that the all of the allegations in the instant case either disclosed no reasonable cause of action or had already been determined and were therefore an abuse of process. These defects were incapable of being cured and the claim was struck without leave to amend. The action was dismissed. The Court of Appeal saw no reversible error in the motion judge’s reasons and dismissed an appeal.