The defendant in this motor vehicle action brought a motion to compel the plaintiff to answer undertakings resulting from his examination for discovery, to pay the costs associated with obtaining the documents required to satisfy the undertakings, and to produce a further and better affidavit of documents. Justice Valente granted the motion, holding that any documents within the plaintiff’s “power” were to be produced at the plaintiff’s expense (save for reasonable photocopying charges which the defendant agreed to pay). Justice Valente accepted the principle that each party must fund its own case, and directed that the obligation to produce documents under Rule 30.01(1) cannot be the responsibility of an adverse party who may have better financial means to source the documents. There was no evidence before Justice Valente to support a departure from this general rule.
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