The Appellants, Patrick and Shelby Twinn and Deborah Serafinchon appealed the result of their unsuccessful Application to be added as parties to litigation regarding the 1985 Sawridge Trust.

The Court noted that Rule 3.75 provides a discretionary procedure for addition of parties to litigation commenced by Originating Application. To justify adding a party under this Rule, the Court must be satisfied that the Order should be made and that it would not result in prejudice that cannot be remedied through a Costs award or otherwise.

The Court noted that under the Rule, two questions are engaged: (1) Does the proposed party have a legal interest that will be affected directly by the order; and (2) Can the issue be resolved completely without the addition of the proposed party as a party?

In this case, the Court held that the Appellants had failed to establish that their interests would not be represented without an Order adding them as parties. The interests of two of the Appellants, as current Beneficiaries, were found to be already represented by the Trustee. Additionally, the Appellants’ submissions failed to disclose the positions they intended to advance, making it impossible for the Court to determine that their positions would not be heard in the course of the Action. Noting that deference is owed to Case Management Justices in such cases, the Court dismissed the Appeal with respect to adding the Appellants as parties to the underlying Action.