Date: 2009-05-06 Docket: 0301 15170 A.G. Park J. | Link

Plaintiff claims that financial records sought by the defendant relate to tertiary lines of inquiry and are of marginal probative value, and that disclosure could prejudice the business interest because the defendant is a competitor. The court recognized that "(a)n overly broad financial disclosure order could lead to substantial prejudice to Air Liquide which can be out of all proportion to any relevance that disclosure might have to the issues in the action." (para 25) However, it decided "(the) questions proposed by Ferus are relevant, material and directly related on a secondary relevance basis to the damage claims advanced in the pleadings. Ferus has met its onus of proving it requires the following specific information in order to resolve the issue of Air Liquide's alleged damages." (para 33) To guard against possible prejudice to the plaintiff, the court granted a confidentiality order or sealing order.