Legal Blog

Cross-Examination – Improper Interference

Shukla v. Fenton 2021 Ont SCJ

Under Rule 34.14, a party has the right to adjourn a cross-examination and move for directions if the right to examine is being abused by an excess of improper questions or interruptions. If the party is successful, the party will get costs and an order clamping down on the other party’s counsel on a new examination. If the party is unsuccessful, that party will no longer be able to continue the examination. This case sets out what an opposing party’s counsel may or may not do. The judge took no issue with the objections being made, but rather about the repetitive and argumentative manner in which they were being made.

Written by Jonathan Speigel, the founding partner of Speigel Nichols Fox LLP, leads the litigation and construction practices.