PRACTICE |
Discovery |
Production of Documents |
Letourneau v. Clearbrook Iron Works Ltd.
T-1864-00
2003 FC 949, Hargrave P.
1/8/03
9 pp.
Application for relief from implied undertaking rule-- Individual plaintiff, Mr. Letourneau, commenced action, at same time as companion action,which is similar, except for choice of defendants--Companion action proceeded more quickly, settled by common counsel-- Counsel for present defendant now wishing to use documentary materials produced by plaintiffs in companion action--Implied undertaking rule coming into play--Latter rule of judge-made procedural law designed to protect privacy interest of litigant and counterbalance it with intrusiveness of discovery process --Documents produced on discovery on implied undertaking, to Court, those to whom documents produced will not use them for collateral purpose: to so use such documents would be contempt of Court--Litigant may apply to be released from implied undertaking where party's interest in using information outweighs interest protected, where document also available outside litigation in which produced-- Documents produced in each action overlapped to some degree--Material at issue not becoming part of public record--Whether interest of defendant, in using information, outweighs privacy, confidentiality interests of plaintiffs-- Factors bearing upon relief from implied undertaking rule: existence of special circumstances, weighing of injustice between parties--In present case, no public interest, obviously no split in jurisdiction by which to justify relief from rule--Balance falling in favour of maintaining rule, for to ignore it would let some weight of injustice fall upon plaintiffs --No special circumstance herein--R. 3, placing premium on achieving just, most expeditious, least expensive determina-tion of proceeding, not applicable as implied undertaking rule judge-made law, not Federal Court rule--Application dismissed--Federal Court Rules, 1998, SOR/98-106, r. 3.