What is the basis for a proposed amendment to the statement of defence of champerty and maintenance?

With respect to the proposed amendment to the statement of defence, none of the material filed discloses a reasonable basis for the proposed defence of champerty and maintenance. Specifically, although the plaintiffs’ arrangements for financing the litigation have permitted the actions to continue, the defendant has no basis for stating that it has led to the “officious intermedling” that is an essential element of champerty and maintenance. The defendants acknowledge that they have no such evidence and that they wish to amend their defence simply to permit inquiries into that possibility at the ongoing examinations for discovery. The need to prohibit that sort of fishing expedition and to focus the litigation on the real issues in dispute is what prompted Zarzeczny J. to make the comments he did in Duke v. Puts, supra.