2017 September 26

MOBE Ltd. v. Loudoun, 2017 BCSC 1873

The British Columbia Supreme Court struck out the defendants’ pleadings in an internet defamation lawsuit on the basis of repeated and cumulative breaches of the Supreme Court Civil Rules which lead to a finding that the defendants were purposefully delaying the prosecution of the cases. The Court held despite being warned their defence may be struck, the defendant had not produced one further document since a court order in August, 2017, that the defendants were not contrite, that a further warning or order would not have any effect, that the lack of documents produced had severely hampered the prosecution of the plaintiff’s case, and that the defendants had deliberately prolonged and obstructed the discovery process. “In my view, there has been deliberate and material non-disclosure.  The defendants’ evidence has repeatedly sidestepped the heart of the fact or legal issue to be addressed.”