Success at the Divisional Court – Appeal from Amendment Motion Dismissed
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On July 11, 2024, the Ontario Divisional Court dismissed an appeal from a final decision of an Associate Judge, who dismissed parts of the appellant’s motion to amend his claim.
The main issue on appeal concerned the appellant’s efforts to add his professional corporation as a co-plaintiff several years after the claim commenced, after having tried, and failed, to add the corporation as a co-plaintiff earlier in the proceeding. The amendment motion was dismissed on the grounds of res judicata and the Divisional Court confirmed the dismissal was the correct outcome. The plaintiff’s effort to add his professional corporation had been previously dismissed as having no tenable cause of action and his second effort to do so was held to be an abuse of process. The Divisional Court’s decision shows how courts apply and review the doctrine of res judicata to motions to add parties to a proceeding.
The decision also confirms that if a motion to add a party as a co-plaintiff is dismissed, the party cannot be added by commencing second claim with both parties named as plaintiffs, as that is a collateral attack on the court’s refusal to add the party to the first claim.
Read the decision here: Platnick v Bent 2024 ONSC 3943