Legal Blog

Discovery Plan

Concord Adex Inc. v. 20/20 Management Limited 2020 Ont SCJ (MC)

The plaintiff and defendant proposed very different discovery plans. The Master noted that the principles in setting a discovery plan were as follows: (i) common sense and proportionality are important; (ii) the settling of a discovery plan is not meant to be a speculative motion on refusals or for a better affidavit of documents; (iii) a discovery plan is not meant to be a form of advance ruling on scope and propriety of questions; and (iv) proportionality and litigation culture shift require “want” to be replaced with “need”. The Master chose the defendants’ plan because it covered the appropriate time period, provided for delivery of supplementary affidavits of documents, and noted that the parties reserved their rights to seek broader production at a later date. The Master noted that the plaintiff’s plan was overly broad and was attempt to obtain an advance ruling on scope and relevance that ought not to have been put into a discovery plan.

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