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More On Discovery Evidence at Trial and The Adverse Party Limitation

Written by admin on . Posted in BCSC Civil Rule 12, Civil Procedure.

As previously discussed, one limitation when using examination for discovery evidence at trial is that the evidence is only admissible against the party that was examined.  Reasons for judgement were released this week by the BC Supreme Court, Vancouver Registry, addressing this limitation finding it is equally applicable during a summary trial.
In this week’s case (Liversidge v. Wang) the Plaintiff sued the Defendant’s for damages.  The Defendants brought Third Party proceedings but the Plaintiff never extended the claim against the Third Party.  In the course of the lawsuit the Plaintiff examined the Third Party for discovery and then set down a summary trial intending to rely on portions of the examination transcripts as against the Defendant.  In disallowing this Mr. Justice Burnyeat provided the following reasons:
12] Rule 12-5(46) (formerly Rule 40(27) states that evidence given at the examination for discovery by a party or a person under Rule 7-2(5) to (10) may be tendered as evidence by a party adverse in interest, but is only admissible against the party examined. This concept was explained by Arnold-Bailey J. in Biehl v. Strang, (2011) 21 B.L.R. (4th) 1 (B.C.S.C). as follows:
I note in Bower v. Cominco Ltd. (1998), 53 B.C.L.R. (3d) 322, 19 C.P.C. (4th) 22 (B.C. S.C.), it was held that the predecessor rule, R. 40(27) of the Rules of Court, B.C. Reg. 221/90 [Predecessor Rules], was enacted in response to Robinson v. Dick (1986), 6 B.C.L.R. (2d) 330 (B.C. S.C.), which permitted the admission of discovery evidence against co-defendants. In Beazley v. Suzuki Motor Corp., 2009 BCSC 1575 (B.C. S.C.) [Beazley] at para. 26, it was held that R. 40(27) only permitted discovery evidence to be admitted against the adverse party examined. (at para. 77)
[13] The decisions outlined in Biehl, supra, and Rule 12-5(46) are clear. The evidence given on an examination for discovery is admissible, but it is only admissible against the adverse party who was examined. Rule 12-5(46) applies equally to a Trial and a Summary Trial.
[14] Under Rule 7-2(1), “a party to an action must make himself or herself available for examination for discovery by parties of record to the action… who are adverse in interest to the parties subject to the examination”. The Plaintiffs did not commence an action against the Third Party so as to make the interest the Third Party adverse to the interest of the Plaintiffs. Here, the Plaintiffs did not have the right to examine the Third Party for discovery. Despite the fact the Third Party consented to being discovered by the Plaintiffs, that consent does not then make the evidence that arises from that discovery available for use by the Plaintiffs against the Defendants.
[15] The evidence provided at the Examination for Discovery of a representative of the Third Party cannot be used on this Summary Trial Application to assist the Plaintiffs in advancing the claim that they make against the Defendants. 

bc injury law, examination for discovery, Liversidge v. Wang, Mr. Justice Burnyeat, Rule 12, Rule 12-5, Rule 12-5(46), Rule 12-5(46)(a)

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