Goodman Yachts LLC v. The “Gertrude Oldendorff” et al.

This was a motion by the Plaintiff for additional security for costs. The underlying action involved damage to a yacht carried as deck cargo from Singapore to Vancouver. The Plaintiff was not a resident of Canada and had no Canadian assets. The Defendants had been previously granted security for costs in the amount of $50,000 with leave to apply for further security. The Defendants now applied for additional security of $100,000 and prepared a draft bill of costs supporting this amount. The Plaintiff contested the application arguing that the court should carefully scrutinise the draft bill submitted and should only allow those items that were firm and definite. The Prothonotary declined this approach in a case where the Plaintiff was a non-resident and had no Canadian assets. The Prothonotary also refused to disallow travel expenses for out-of-town counsel. The Prothonotary noted that the Federal Court is a Canadian and international court and litigants had the right to use counsel from anywhere in Canada but subject to a test of reasonableness. In the result the Prothonotary allowed the motion but ordered that the additional security be delivered in two stages.