The Administrator of the Ship-Source Oil Pollution Fund v. The “Anangel Splendour”,

This was an action by the Administrator of the Ship-Source Oil Pollution Fund to recover pollution clean-up costs it had paid to two claimants, QCM and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), pursuant to the statutory scheme in the Marine Liability Act. The Defendant brought this motion for an order that the Administrator put forward as its discovery representatives individuals from QCM and DFO. The motion was denied by the Prothonotary on the grounds that QCM and DFO were not parties to the proceeding. However, the Prothonotary did allow for the possibility of an examination of QCM and DFO in the future as non-parties pursuant to Rule 238 if the Defendants were able to satisfy the Court that were not able to obtain the information informally from these entities. Appeals from the Prothonotary’s order to a Judge and then to the Court of Appeal were dismissed.