Gutierrez v. Jeske, 2005 ABQB 971

• Judge: Moen, J.
• Court: Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta (Canada)
• Case Date: September 02, 2005
• Citations: 2005 ABQB 971;(2005), 396 A.R. 1 (QB)

Gutierrez v. Jeske (2005), 396 A.R. 1 (QB)

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [2006] A.R. TBEd. JA.022

Ana Gutierrez (plaintiff) v. Gerald Timothy Jeske (defendant)

(0003 01790; 2005 ABQB 971)

Indexed As: Gutierrez v. Jeske

Alberta Court of Queen's Bench

Judicial District of Edmonton

Moen, J.

December 19, 2005.

Summary:

Gutierrez was receiving Workers' Compensation Board (WCB) benefits for injuries she suffered in an automobile accident. The WCB sought control of Gutierrez' action against the third party who injured her.

On striking the WCB's statement of claim, dismissing the WCB's application to strike Gutierrez' statement of claim and refusing the WCB's application for control, the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench awarded Gutierrez full indemnity for legal costs. The WCB applied under rule 505(3) for leave to appeal the costs order.

The Alberta Court of Queen's Bench dismissed the application.

Practice - Topic 7408

Costs - Solicitor and client costs - General principles - Solicitor and client costs as damages or punishment - Gutierrez was receiving Workers' Compensation Board (WCB) benefits for injuries she suffered in an automobile accident - The WCB sought control of Gutierrez' action against the third party who injured her - After a number of proceedings and on refusing the WCB's application for control, the court awarded Gutierrez full indemnity for legal costs - The WCB applied under rule 505(3) for leave to appeal - The Alberta Court of Queen's Bench dismissed the application - Rule 505(3) created a general prohibition on appealing costs orders in an attempt to put an end to litigation and to limit the number of hopeless appeals - Gutierrez' case was an exceptional one involving blameworthy conduct by WCB counsel including unnecessarily pressing every point, wasting the court's and Gutierrez' time and money and confusing and misleading the court - Courts had to control their process - Where counsel had been unreasonable, courts had to ensure that the other party was compensated - There was no good arguable case that there was an error either in law or the exercise of the court's discretion.

Practice - Topic 7458

Costs - Solicitor and client costs - Entitlement to solicitor and client costs - Rare, exceptional or complex cases - [See Practice - Topic 7408 ].

Practice - Topic 7762

Costs - Special orders - Indemnity - [See Practice - Topic 7408 ].

Practice - Topic 8298

Costs - Appeals - Appeals from order granting or denying costs - Requirement of leave to appeal - [See Practice - Topic 7408 ].

Cases Noticed:

Yakimyshyn v. Yakimyshyn (1994), 157 A.R. 157; 77 W.A.C. 157; 22 Alta. L.R.(3d) 305 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 4, footnote 2].

Colborne Capital Corp. et al. v. 542775 Alberta Ltd. et al., [1999] 8 W.W.R. 222; 228 A.R. 201; 188 W.A.C. 201 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 4, footnote 3].

Bondy v. Bondy (1978), 6 C.P.C. 117; 4 R.F.L.(2d) 285 (Ont. H.C.), refd to. [para. 4, footnote 4].

Laurin v. Ford Credit Canada Ltd. and Fehr (1993), 20 B.C.A.C. 73; 35 W.A.C. 73 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 4, footnote 5].

Pierce, Van Loon v. Davro Investments Ltd. et al. (1994), 47 B.C.A.C. 309; 76 W.A.C. 309 (C.A.), appld. [para. 5, footnote 6].

Pugh et al. v. Schepanovich (1993), 159 A.R. 397 (Q.B.), refd to. [para. 6, footnote 8].

Director of the Parentage and Maintenance Act (Alta.) v. B.C. (1993), 143 A.R. 181; 12 Alta. L.R.(3d) 422 (Q.B.), refd to. [para. 6, footnote 8].

Nycan Energy Corp. v. Energy and Utilities Board (Alta.) et al. (2001), 277 A.R. 391; 242 W.A.C. 391; 2001 ABCA 31, refd to. [para. 7, footnote 9].

Westersund v. Westersund (1994), 157 A.R. 276; 77 W.A.C. 276 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 7, footnote 10].

Berube v. Bobier (1999), 236 A.R. 119 (Q.B.), refd to. [para. 10, footnote 11].

Prodon v. Vickrey et al. (1988), 93 A.R. 244 (Q.B.), refd to. [para. 10, footnote 11].

Jackson v. Trimac Industries Ltd. (1993), 138 A.R. 161 (Q.B.), refd to. [para. 11, footnote 12].

Markdale Ltd. v. Ducharme (1998), 238 A.R. 321; 1998 ABQB 1077, refd to. [para. 13, footnote 13].

Nabors Canada LP v. Workers' Compensation Board Appeals Commission (Alta.) et al. (2004), 375 A.R. 9; 2005 ABQB 199, refd to. [para. 22, footnote 14].

Huang v. Drinkwater, 2005 ABQB 272, refd to. [para. 25, footnote 15].

Statutes Noticed:

Rules of Court (Alta.), rule 505(3) [para. 3].

Counsel:

Helmut Berndt (Berndt & Associates), for the plaintiff;

Kevin Feth (Field LLP), for the defendant.

This application was heard on September 2, 2005, by Moen, J., of the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench, Judicial District of Edmonton, who delivered the following reasons for judgment on December 19, 2005.