Executive Summary: Key Legal and Evidentiary Issues

• Plaintiff alleged academic and personal misconduct by a Ph.D. supervisor, including coercion and abuse.

• Claims were made against the university, a professor, and a former friend turned co-defendant.

• The plaintiff unsuccessfully sought $1.7 million in damages for alleged mistreatment and exploitation.

• The court found the plaintiff’s allegations to be entirely unfounded and his conduct improper.

• Joining the former friend as a defendant for refusing to provide false testimony was deemed unreasonable.

• The court awarded elevated partial indemnity costs due to abusive litigation behavior.

Facts and procedural background

The plaintiff, Ahmed Abada, initiated a civil lawsuit against the University of Ottawa, his former academic supervisor Dr. Azzedine Boukerche, and a former friend, Abdelghani Benmaddi. He alleged that Dr. Boukerche had deliberately obstructed his academic progress, used him for unpaid manual labour at his home, and acted abusively toward him. He further claimed that Mr. Benmaddi, initially his supporter, had personal knowledge of this mistreatment. When Mr. Benmaddi declined to support his claims, Mr. Abada allegedly threatened to sue him—then followed through with a lawsuit that included both men and the university as defendants.

The case spanned approximately ten years. The plaintiff sought roughly $1.7 million in damages. At trial, all his claims were dismissed. The court determined that the plaintiff’s accusations were entirely baseless and that the addition of Mr. Benmaddi as a defendant was an abuse of process, motivated by the plaintiff’s desire to compel false testimony.

Outcome and analysis of the costs decision

Following the trial, the defendants sought to recover their legal costs. They asked for $210,000 on a substantial indemnity basis or, alternatively, $158,049.55 on a partial indemnity basis. The plaintiff opposed these amounts, arguing that costs should not exceed $70,000 and that his conduct did not warrant higher penalties.

Justice R. Smith evaluated the matter under Rule 57 of Ontario’s Rules of Civil Procedure. The court considered the complete lack of success on the plaintiff’s part, the seriousness of the unfounded allegations, the unnecessary prolongation of litigation, and the multiple reasonable offers to settle made by the defendants.

Although the judge declined to award full substantial indemnity, the plaintiff’s conduct—particularly the unreasonable and improper addition of Mr. Benmaddi as a defendant—justified an increase to the partial indemnity amount. The court found the hourly rates, time spent, and disbursements to be reasonable given the complexity of the case and its decade-long duration.

Final determination

The court fixed costs in favor of the defendants at $155,000 plus HST, and disbursements of $4,621.04, inclusive of HST.