On May 30, 2019, the Ontario Court of Appeal (the Court)
released its decision in Drummond v. The Cadillac Fairview
Corp. Ltd., 2019 ONCA 447. On the underlying motion, the
defendant brought a motion for summary judgment to dismiss the
plaintiff's action. The motion judge granted summary judgment,
but in favour of the plaintiff, leaving only the assessment of
damages to proceed to trial. On appeal, the Court set aside the
"reverse summary judgment" granted to the plaintiff and
instead granted summary judgment dismissing the action.
Reverse Summary Judgment
Any party contemplating a motion for summary judgment must
always consider the possibility of a court granting "reverse
summary judgment," i.e. granting judgment in favor of
the responding / opposing party. In Manulife Bank of Canada v.
Conlin, [1996] 3 S.C.R. 415, the Supreme Court of Canada held
that a court hearing a motion for summary judgment has the
jurisdiction to render judgment in favor of the responding
