Legal Blog

Reasons for Decision Incomplete

Rinc Consulting Inc. v. Grant Thorton LLP 2019 Ont SCJ

Reasons for decision were given in an action. The unsuccessful party felt that the reasons did not cover all of the issues that it had raised and brought a motion under Rule 59.06 to have the judge deliver his decision on these matters. This is one way to do it. The other way is to get the consent of the other party to send a letter to the judge bringing the omissions to his or her attention such that a formal motion would not be necessary. The judge has full jurisdiction to amend a decision before the formal order or judgment is taken out. A judge has jurisdiction under Rule 59.06 if “an inadvertent failure to deal with the claim led to an error in expressing my manifest intention.” As to the merits, the judge had dismissed the action, even though a breach of contract had been proven, because the plaintiff did not prove its damages. The judge refused to award nominal damages because he felt that the theory of damages was based upon “fictitious losses.” The judge dismissed the claim for other special damages because the invoices supplied as proof of those damages were redacted, which precluded a meaningful review of both the type of services performed and whether those services were incurred as a result of the breach of contract.

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