Ontario Court Declines To Issue Anti-suit Injunction

On December 17, 2021, the Superior Court of Justice in Ontario (the Court) issued its decision in Wiseau Studio LLC v Harper, 2021 ONSC 8324 (Harper), declining to issue an anti-suit injunction. 

The Court’s decision in Harper is a result of protracted litigation regarding a documentary entitled “Room Full of Spoons”, that was created by the six defendants.  The documentary chronicled the making of another movie, called “The Room” that was created by the plaintiffs, Wiseau Studio LLC and Tommy Wiseau.  The plaintiffs objected to the defendants’ documentary, and sought an injunction restraining its release.

In April 2020, the plaintiffs’ claim for an injunction was dismissed, as previously reported by the E-TIPS® Newsletter here.  The plaintiffs then bought a motion to vary the April 2020 ruling based on alleged new evidence.  This motion was dismissed on June 5, 2020.  The plaintiffs then appealed to the Ontario Court of Appeal.  However, the plaintiffs did not post the required security for judgement, and the appeal was dismissed without further hearing.  Subsequently, the plaintiffs brought two additional actions against the defendants; one before the Federal Court for alleged breach of copyright, and the other before the Court for damages for fraudulent misrepresentation.

In response to these additional actions, the defendants brought a motion seeking an anti-suit injunction from the Court.  The injunction would not only dismiss the two actions which gave rise to the motion, “it would also block any further potentially related proceedings being brought anywhere in the world related to the production of the film that lies at the heart of this saga.”

Based on the Statement of Claim in the action alleging fraudulent misrepresentation, the Court stayed the action on the basis that it was a clear abuse of process, as the claims alleged were already conclusively decided in the April 2020 decision and subsequent ruling of the Court of Appeal.  However, the Court declined to stay the action brought before the Federal Court, as the Court determined that the Federal Court was the proper forum to decide the matter.

Ultimately, the Court did not grant the anti-suit injunction as, in the judge’s words, “[a] bazooka is not needed where a precision fly swatter will do.”  However, the Court stated that depending on further facts, a future application by the defendants for an anti-suit injunction may be considered, as “[f]inality is a very important value in our judicial system without which it would literally collapse.”

Summary By: Olalekan (Wole) Akinremi