Aghdasi v. Asiyaban et al., 2025 ONSC 2346

In Aghdasi v. Asiyaban et al., 2025 ONSC 2346 [1] (“Aghdasi”), the court discussed how pre-judgment and post-judgment interest is determined respecting a cost award.

The court previously awarded the plaintiff damages of $241,000 for the improper registration of a certificate of pending litigation (“CPL”), and punitive damages of $100,000. The court identified three main issues pertaining to the calculation of the interest owed on judgments pronounced:

1. When does the obligation to pay interest begin?
2. What is the appropriate interest rate?
3. What is the post-judgment interest to which the plaintiff is entitled?

Pre-judgement Interest

Pre-judgement interest is addressed in s.128 of the Courts of Justice Act (“CJA”), which states the following:

128 (1) A person who is entitled to an order for the payment of money is entitled to claim and have included in the order an award of interest thereon at the pre-judgment interest rate, calculated from the date the cause of action arose to the date of the order.  R.S.O. 1990, c. C.43, s. 128 (1).

Determining the date of the cause of action was essential to assessing prejudgement interest. In June of 2019, the Plaintiff listed her property located at 123 Ellis Avenue (the “Ellis Property”) on the open market and soon after received an offer for $1,599,00. The Plaintiff did not accept this offer in hopes of pursuing “the multiple offer strategy”.[2] On July 25, 2019, the defendant successfully brought a motion to grant a CPL on the Ellis Property and on July 29, 2019, the CPL was registered on title. For this reason, the court determined that the cause of action began to run on July 29, 2019.[3]

On July 17, 2024, the judgement was decided, thus resulting in the pre-judgement interest ending on this date. The court asserted that pre-judgment interest applied solely to compensatory damages. On this basis, the court determined that pre-judgement interest was solely applicable to the damage award of $241,000 and not to the punitive damage award. [4]

Interest Rate

The plaintiff provided the following chart to show that she should receive a statutory interest rate of 0.5% because she filed her claim in the fourth quarter of 2020. Additionally, the plaintiff provided the chart to illustrate the “dramatic increase” in interest rates between 2020 – 2024.[5]

According to s.130(2) of the CJA, the court may consider significant changes in market interest rates when determining an appropriate interest rate. The plaintiff submitted that the average interest rate over the course of the 4 years of litigation should be fixed at 3%.[6] The court was agreeable to this and held as follows:

[18] In cases where interest rates have fluctuated significantly, courts have exercised the discretion pursuant to s. 130 to fix pre-judgment interest rates as an average of rates over the lifespan of the litigation to ensure the plaintiff is justly compensated for the value of the money wrongfully withheld from her.[7]

The calculation provided by the plaintiff at an average interest rate of 3% amounted to $35,354.70, to which the defendant did not challenge.[8]

Post- Judgement Interest

The court heldthat the applicable post-judgement interest rate in 2024 was 7.0% for a cause of action arising on or before October 23, 1989.[9] This rate applied consistently throughout all four quarters of the year. The court also noted that post-judgement interest applied to any amount owing under a judgment, and on cost awards/orders. Consequently, the court awarded post-judgment interest on the $241,000 respecting damages for the improper registration of the CPL, as well as the $100,000 in punitive damages, and the entire costs award at an annual rate of 7%.[10]

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[1] Aghdasi v. Asiyaban et al., 2025 ONSC 2346 (“Aghdasi”)

[2] Aghdasi at para 7.

[3] Aghdasi at para 12.

[4] Aghdasi at para 22.

[5] Aghdasi at para 15.

[6] Aghdasi at para 19.

[7] Aghdasi at para 18.

[8] Aghdasi at para 19.

[9] Aghdasi at para 21.

[10] Aghdasi at para 24.