On February 4th, the Alberta Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal of an order that allowed a plaintiff in a departing employee case full access to hard drives it had seized earlier in executing an Anton Piller order.
The defendants were initially ordered to produce a further and better affidavit of documents, failing which the plaintiffs would be given direct access to the seized hard drives (subject to confidentiality terms to be agreed upon or ordered). The defendants did not appeal the order and went ahead and negotiated a confidentiality order. The Court later held them to be in breach of the previous order, and confirmed the production order after rejecting arguments that it would be overly burdensome.
The Court of Appeal said, “…the chambers judge’s order is plainly supported by ample evidence. The law as to orders for a further and better affidavit of records also supports the order, as does the earlier order of the case management judge.”
See here for my post on the chambers judge’s decision.
Spar Aerospace v. Aerowerks Engineering Ltd., 2008 ABCA 47.
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