McKnight v. Hutchison, 2014 BCCA 472

• Court: Court of Appeal (British Columbia)
• Case Date: October 28, 2014
• Jurisdiction: British Columbia
• Citations: 2014 BCCA 472;(2014), 364 B.C.A.C. 98 (CA Reg.)

McKnight v. Hutchison (2014), 364 B.C.A.C. 98 (CA Reg.);

    625 W.A.C. 98

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [2014] B.C.A.C. TBEd. DE.021

Donald Dale McKnight (respondent/plaintiff) v. John Michael Hutchison (appellant/defendant)

(CA030236; 2014 BCCA 472)

Indexed As: McKnight v. Hutchison

British Columbia Court of Appeal

Outerbridge, Registrar

December 4, 2014.

Summary:

On appeal, the respondent successfully defended his claim that the appellant, while in a partnership with the respondent between 1990 and 1999, had engaged in business activity for which he should have accounted to the partnership. The court ordered that the respondent recover his costs "on the basis of 75% of special costs." The respondent applied for an assessment of his costs in the appeal. The respondent, a lawyer, had represented himself and he had also been represented by counsel at times.

The Registrar of the British Columbia Court of Appeal signed a certificate of costs in the amount of $85,394.34.

Editor's Note: For prior related decisions see (2012), 322 B.C.A.C. 313; 549 W.A.C. 313, (2012), 331 B.C.A.C. 153; 565 W.A.C. 153, and (2013), 341 B.C.A.C. 214; 582 W.A.C. 214.

Practice - Topic 7372

Costs - Costs of interlocutory proceedings - Payment forthwith - See paragraphs 64 to 65.

Practice - Topic 7423

Costs - Solicitor and client costs - Measure of solicitor and client costs - Relevant considerations - General - See paragraphs 18 to 83.

Practice - Topic 7427

Costs - Solicitor and client costs - Measure of solicitor and client costs - Quantum meruit - Global approach to fair and reasonable charges - See paragraphs 44 to 48.

Practice - Topic 7470.15

Costs - Solicitor and client costs - Entitlement to solicitor and client costs - Self-represented lawyer - See paragraphs 39 to 52 and 68 to 69.

Practice - Topic 7471

Costs - Solicitor and client costs - Considerations on taxation - General - See paragraphs 18 to 83.

Practice - Topic 7603

Costs - Taxation of costs - Considerations - See paragraphs 18 to 83.

Practice - Topic 7620

Costs - Taxation of costs - Costs of costs assessments - See paragraph 81.

Cases Noticed:

Lee v. Richmond Hospital Society (2005), 209 B.C.A.C. 161; 345 W.A.C. 161; 2005 BCCA 107, refd to. [para. 20].

Everywoman's Health Centre Society (1988) v. Bridges (1991), 54 B.C.L.R.(2d) 294 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 20].

Bradshaw Construction Ltd. v. Bank of Nova Scotia (1991), 54 B.C.L.R.(2d) 309 (S.C.), affd. (1992), 16 B.C.A.C. 62; 28 W.A.C. 62; 73 B.C.L.R.(2d) 212 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 20].

National Hockey League et al. v. Pepsi-Cola Canada Ltd. (1995), 56 B.C.A.C. 8; 92 W.A.C. 8; 2 B.C.L.R.(3d) 13 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 20].

Gichuru v. Smith et al. (2014), 362 B.C.A.C. 271; 622 W.A.C. 271; 2014 BCCA 414, refd to. [para. 21].

Tangerine Financial Products Limited Partnership et al. v. Reeves Family Trust et al., [2014] B.C.T.C. Uned. 25; 2014 BCSC 25, refd to. [para. 29].

London Scottish Benefit Society v. Chorley (1884), 13 Q.B.D. 872 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 39].

Middlecamp v. McMath (1994), 93 B.C.L.R.(2d) 386 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 39].

Skidmore et al. v. Blackmore, [1995] 4 W.W.R. 524; 55 B.C.A.C. 191; 90 W.A.C. 191 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 39].

Harrison v. Information and Privacy Commissioner (B.C.) et al., [2008] B.C.T.C. Uned. 616; 2008 BCSC 979, revd. (2009), 270 B.C.A.C. 218; 454 W.A.C. 218; 2009 BCCA 203, leave to appeal refused [2010] 1 S.C.R. x; 404 N.R. 385, refd to. [para. 42].

City Club Development (Middlegate) Corp. v. Cutts (1996), 26 B.C.L.R.(3d) 39 (Reg.), refd to. [para. 42].

Cohlmeyer v. Ffrench et al., [2012] O.T.C. Uned. 929; 2012 ONSC 929, refd to. [para. 43].

Dechant v. Law Society of Alberta (2001), 277 A.R. 333; 242 W.A.C. 333; 2001 ABCA 81, leave to appeal refused [2001] 3 S.C.R. vi; 283 N.R. 394; 299 A.R. 177; 266 W.A.C. 177, refd to. [para. 43].

Easton et al. v. Easton, [2002] B.C.T.C. 1076; 2002 BCSC 1076, refd to. [para. 45].

Fong et al. v. Chan et al. (1999), 128 O.A.C. 2; 46 O.R.(3d) 330 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 45].

Paradis v. Bossé (1892), 21 S.C.R. 419, refd to. [para. 47].

Wright v. Wright, [1994] B.C.T.C. Uned. A04; 93 B.C.L.R.(2d) 358 (S.C.), refd to. [para. 47].

Sutherland v. Vancouver International Airport Authority - see Sutherland et al. v. Canada (Attorney General) et al.

Sutherland et al. v. Canada (Attorney General) et al. (2007), 240 B.C.A.C. 17; 398 W.A.C. 17; 2007 BCCA 213, refd to. [para. 56].

Commonwealth Trust Co. et al., Re (2012), 320 B.C.A.C. 27; 543 W.A.C. 27; 2012 BCCA 138, refd to. [para. 64].

Banner v. Gajie, [2014] B.C.T.C. Uned. 389; 2014 BCSC 389 (S.C. Reg.), refd to. [para. 65].

Ezer v. Yorkton Securities Inc. et al. (2006), 233 B.C.A.C. 161; 386 W.A.C. 161; 2006 BCCA 548, refd to. [para. 81].

J.A.S. v. N.J.S. (2008), 250 B.C.A.C. 101; 416 W.A.C. 101; 2008 BCCA 5, leave to appeal refused (2008), 387 N.R. 395; 273 B.C.A.C. 319; 461 W.A.C. 319, refd to. [para. 81].

Statutes Noticed:

Court of Appeal Rules (B.C.) - see Rules of Court (B.C.), Court of Appeal Rules.

Rules of Court (B.C.), Court of Appeal Rules, rule 60(2) [para. 18]; rule 61(2) [para. 19].

Counsel:

J.M. Hutchison, Q.C., appellant, appeared in person;

D.D. McKnight, respondent, appeared in person.

This appeal was heard on October 28, 2014, at Vancouver, B.C., before Outerbridge, Registrar, of the British Columbia Court of Appeal. Final written submissions were filed on November 17, 2014. Outerbridge, Registrar, delivered the following judgment on December 4, 2014.