Teva Canada Limited v Pfizer Canada Inc, 2014 FC 634

Following an action for damages under s. 8 of the PM(NOC) Regulations, Teva and Pfizer were unable to agree on the quantum of costs or pre- and post-judgement interest.

Regarding the costs, the Court decided that awarding a lump sum would not be appropriate in light of the numerous objections Pfizer raised to the Bill of Costs. The Court assessed the costs instead. [7]

Regarding pre-judgement interest, the Court rejected Teva’s argument that Teva was entitled to pre-judgement interest on the entire amount of damages it suffered over a nineteen-month period starting from the beginning of that period. Instead, the Court decided that the interest is to be calculated on the cumulative amount of damage that that had been suffered each month starting at the beginning of the nineteen-month period. The Court noted that its preferred method of calculating interest takes into account that damages were suffered over time, and avoids overcompensating Teva. [11-19]

Regarding post-judgement interest, the Court agreed with Pfizer that the Courts of Justice Act governs this interest. The Court found that the post-judgement interest rate was 3%, which applied to the costs and pre-judgement interest, as well as to damages. [21-22]