MARTINEZ v CHAFFIN, 2019 ABQB 439

Marriott J

3.68: Court options to deal with significant deficiencies
9.4: Signing judgments and orders
10.29: General rule for payment of litigation costs

Case Summary

After the Court imposed strict Court access restrictions on the Applicant, a Civil Practice Note No. 7 (“CPN7”) “show cause” procedure was initiated in respect of the Plaintiff’s outstanding Action against the Defendants. The Plaintiff was asked to make submissions of up to 10 pages indicating why his Amended Statement of Claim should not be struck as an abuse of process pursuant to Rule 3.68.

The Plaintiff’s submissions did not comply with the Court’s instructions concerning the CPN7 process, or the Court access restrictions imposed on him. The Plaintiff provided correspondence to Justice Marriott and counsel for the Defendants opposing a “Dispute” and “Order”, attempted to file a 25-page package of materials in contravention of his Court access restrictions, and emailed the Court a 5-page document titled “Written Submission and Response” which Justice Marriott treated as his submissions. The Plaintiff’s submissions disputed previous decisions and asserted that the Court was under “investigations”. Her Ladyship noted that the Plaintiff had a pattern of rejecting Court decisions due to “investigations”.

Justice Marriott explained that CPN7 is a “show cause” procedure through which the party filing the document must establish a claim’s basis in law. Her Ladyship noted that there were defects in the Plaintiff’s claim, and found that his written submissions did not respond to those issues. Instead, the Plaintiff’s submissions merely asserted that his litigation was “valid”, “noble and just”, and “cannot fail”. As such, the Action was terminated in accordance with Rule 3.68.

Her Ladyship explained that the Defendants were presumptively due Costs in accordance with Rule 10.29, and that the Plaintiff’s plea for “$250,000,000 Million Dollars” meant that his claim fell under Column 5 of Schedule “C”. The Plaintiff’s approval of the Order was dispensed with in accordance with Rule 9.4(2)(c).

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