Plaintiff's motion to strike the defendants’ statement of defence due to non-compliance with court orders.
Defendants' multiple adjournment requests and appeals delaying proceedings.
Failure by defendants to attend examinations for discovery and to pay various cost orders.
Background:
The defendants, Hanna Sochnyeva and Dmytro Sochnyev, were repeatedly found in non-compliance with several court orders related to document production and discovery.
The defendants did not attend scheduled discovery sessions, claiming ongoing appeals excused them from compliance.
Despite multiple timetable orders and cost penalties, the defendants continued to delay proceedings by filing numerous appeals and motions.
Court's Findings:
Associate Justice Jolley held that the defendants' continuous non-compliance, despite appeals being dismissed, constituted an abuse of the court process.
The court emphasized that the defendants’ conduct, including filing late motions and repeated appeals, was solely to delay proceedings.
The court found that issuing new timetable orders would be ineffective due to the defendants’ consistent disregard for previous orders.
Order:
The defendants' statement of defence was struck out.
The defendants were ordered to pay partial indemnity costs totaling $10,341.54 to the plaintiff.
