Collins v Metro North Hospital and Health Service

In the matter of Collins v Metro North Hospital and Health Service, the defendant applied to strike out specific paragraphs of the plaintiff's seventh amended statement of claim, arguing they disclosed no reasonable cause of action. Simultaneously, the plaintiff sought to set aside prior orders of the Supreme Court that had struck out parts of their statement of claim, alleging that those orders were obtained by fraud and that new facts had emerged. The court was tasked with determining whether the plaintiff's allegations of fraud were substantiated and if there were any newly established facts warranting the setting aside of the previous orders.

The court examined the plaintiff's claims of fraud and the assertion of newly established facts. It concluded that the plaintiff had not provided sufficient evidence to support the allegation of fraud in the obtaining of the previous orders. Furthermore, the court found that the plaintiff had not identified any newly established facts that would warrant setting aside the previous strike-out orders. The court focused on whether the plaintiff's amended statement of claim disclosed a reasonable cause of action, considering the pleadings and the evidence before it. The court held that certain paragraphs did not disclose any reasonable cause of action and, therefore, ordered them to be struck out.

In its ruling, the court struck out specific paragraphs from the plaintiff's seventh amended statement of claim, finding them to be without merit. The court extended the time for the defendant to plead to the amended statement of claim and ordered the plaintiff to file an eighth amended statement of claim by a specified date. Additionally, the court ruled that the plaintiff's application to set aside the previous orders was without merit and ordered the plaintiff to pay the defendant's costs on an indemnity basis. The defendant was also ordered to file an amended defence within a specified timeframe following the service of the eighth amended statement of claim.