In the December 1, 2011 decision in Tepper Holdings Inc (Re), 2011 NBQB 336 (CanLII), the Court finds that the provision in the Rules allowing for costs to be ordered against a lawyer personally is not limited to individual lawyers and may include a firm. The Court found that in this case, the firm’s “…conduct amounts to a serious dereliction of the duty owed to the court which justifies the use of the word “gross”. It clearly goes beyond mistake, error in judgment, or mere negligence….[and] amounts to acting in disregard of the interests of justice in these CCAA proceedings.” This decision and an earlier decision of the same court fixing the amount of legal fees payable to the firm are discussed in the December 9, 2011 post N.B. firm slapped with costs in potato farmer case on Legal Feeds blog. The Canadian Lawyers Insurance Association provides loss prevention information solely for the benefit of CLIA insured lawyers. The content and links provided in Loss Prevention eBytes are intended as resources to qualified lawyers who should exercise due care and their professional judgment in adapting or making use of any content.
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