Can a party who makes unfounded allegations against lawyers acting for the opposing party be sanctioned by the court with indemnity costs?
Ontario, Canada
The following excerpt is from Man-Shield (NWO) Construction Inc. v Macdonald, 2017 ONSC 684 (CanLII):
In Willmot v. Willmot, [2007] O.J. No. 2574 (S.C.J.), Power J. awarded full indemnity costs against a party who made unfounded allegations that the lawyers acting for the opposing party had misled the court and withheld documents. At para. 8, he stated: Litigants and their legal counsel should not be exposed to unfounded allegations of misconduct. Such unfounded allegations should be sanctioned by the court through, at the very least, an order for costs in favour of the parties against whom the allegations are made.
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