Porto Seguro Companhia De Seguros Gerais v. Belcan S.A. et.al.

This was an appeal from a decision of the Prothonotary in which the Prothonotary refused to pay out money paid into court as security for costs. The Plaintiff’s action against the Defendant had been dismissed at trial. The Plaintiff appealed to the Federal Court of Appeal and the appeal was dismissed. The Plaintiff further appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada. The Supreme Court allowed the appeal, ordered a new trial and awarded the Plaintiff its costs before the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. The Plaintiff and Defendant each subsequently brought motions to be paid the amount posted as security. The Prothonotary ruled that the security should be kept in court pending the ultimate disposition of the new trial. On appeal, the appeal judge noted that a discretionary order of a Prothonotary should not be disturbed unless it was clearly wrong or raised issues vital to the final issue of the case. The appeal judge held that the Prothonotary’s decision in the present case did not meet this test.