Raymond v. Brauer et al., 2015 NSCA 37

• Judge: Beveridge, J.A.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Nova Scotia (Canada)
• Case Date: April 16, 2015
• Jurisdiction: Nova Scotia
• Citations: 2015 NSCA 37;(2015), 358 N.S.R.(2d) 219 (CA)

Raymond v. Brauer (2015), 358 N.S.R.(2d) 219 (CA);

    1131 A.P.R. 219

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [2015] N.S.R.(2d) TBEd. AP.036

Paulette Raymond (appellant) v. Connie Brauer and Victor Harris (respondents)

(CA 432911; 2015 NSCA 37)

Indexed As: Raymond v. Brauer et al.

Nova Scotia Court of Appeal

Beveridge, J.A.

April 21, 2015.

Summary:

Raymond sued Brauer and Harris for defamation. A counterclaim was brought. Various motions were brought.

The Nova Scotia Supreme Court, in a decision not reported in this series of reports, dismissed Raymond's motions to set aside a jury notice and for summary judgment on evidence. Raymond filed a Notice of Appeal (General). Brauer and Harris applied for dismissal of the Notice of Appeal for non-compliance with the Nova Scotia Civil Procedure Rules.

The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, per Beveridge, J.A., dismissed the Notice of Appeal.

Practice - Topic 5779

Judgments and orders - Interlocutory or interim orders or judgments - What constitutes - The plaintiff sued the defendants for defamation - A counterclaim was brought - Warner, J., dismissed motions by the plaintiff to set aside a jury notice and for summary judgment on evidence - The plaintiff filed a Notice of Appeal (General) - The defendants applied for dismissal of the Notice for non-compliance with the Nova Scotia Civil Procedure Rules, arguing that the orders were interlocutory and no leave to appeal had been obtained - The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, per Beveridge, J.A., held that the orders appealed from were interlocutory - It was plain that they did not finally dispose of the matters in dispute between the parties - Neither order brought the proceedings to an end - See paragraphs 17 to 23.

Practice - Topic 8862

Appeals - Quashing or dismissal of appeals - Grounds for - A plaintiff filed a Notice of Appeal (General) - The defendants applied for dismissal of the Notice for non-compliance with the Nova Scotia Civil Procedure Rules, arguing that the orders were interlocutory and no leave to appeal had been obtained - The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, per Beveridge, J.A., agreed that the orders appealed from were interlocutory - The court stated that rule 90.40(2) gave the court discretion to dismiss an appeal if it was not conducted in compliance with rule 90 for any reason - The time to try to bring appeal proceedings in interlocutory matters was much shorter, as were the requirements to set down and prosecute the appeal - The Registrar's office should not have accepted the Notice on October 31, 2014 - However, when the problem was pointed out to the plaintiff, she did not seek to invoke any of the possible remedial measures - Instead, she insisted that her Notice of Appeal (General) was properly before the court and the problem was that the court did not understand the difference between interlocutory and final orders - Furthermore, she announced her intention to move for a stay of her appeal proceedings - Interlocutory appeals were designed to be conducted quickly, not delayed by the prospective appellant - Further, the plaintiff's proposed grounds of appeal lacked merit - The court dismissed the Notice of Appeal, holding that it was in the interests of justice - See paragraphs 24 to 32.

Cases Noticed:

Hendrickson v. Kallio, [1932] O.R. 675 (C.A.), appld. [para. 17].

Van de Wiel v. Blaikie (2005), 230 N.S.R.(2d) 186; 729 A.P.R. 186; 2005 NSCA 14, refd to. [para. 18].

Cherny v. Glaxo Smith Kline Inc. (2009), 279 N.S.R.(2d) 192; 887 A.P.R. 192; 2009 NSCA 68, refd to. [para. 21].

Mason (V.K.) Construction Ltd. v. Canadian General Insurance Group Ltd. (1998), 116 O.A.C. 272 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 21].

Anderson v. Cyr et al. (2014), 345 N.S.R.(2d) 329; 1092 A.P.R. 329; 2014 NSCA 51, refd to. [para. 22].

Wall v. 679927 Ontario Ltd. et al. (2006), 242 N.S.R.(2d) 300; 770 A.P.R. 300; 2006 NSCA 36, refd to. [para. 22].

Sevgur v. Islam (2011), 310 N.S.R.(2d) 266; 983 A.P.R. 266; 2011 NSCA 114, appld. [para. 26].

Deveau v. Fawson Estate - see Fawson Estate, Re.

Fawson Estate, Re (2013), 329 N.S.R.(2d) 329; 1042 A.P.R. 329; 2013 NSCA 54, refd to. [para. 26].

Authors and Works Noticed:

Madden, Mike, Conquering the Common Law Hydra: A Probably Correct and Reasonable Overview of Current Standards of Appellate and Judicial Review (2010), 36 The Advocates' Quarterly 269, generally [para. 10].

Sopinka, John, and Gelowitz, Mark A., The Conduct of an Appeal (2nd Ed. 2000), generally [paras. 10, 11]; p. 15 [para. 17, footnote 1].

Counsel:

Paulette Raymond, appellant in person;

Connie Brauer and Victor Harris, respondents in person.

This application was heard on April 16, 2015, by Beveridge, J.A., of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, who delivered the following decision on April 21, 2015.