The Federal Court recently released a decision in Alam v. Drew Bieber (2024 FC 499) arising from a motion for default judgment. The plaintiff, a self-represented litigant, had alleged that Justin Bieber infringed the plaintiff’s “copyright in the song and in the lyrics” with Bieber’s song “Stay”.

The defendant did not file a statement of defence, and in fact, the only documents filed by the defendant were those responding to the plaintiff’s motion for default judgment. Nevertheless, the court dismissed the case and issued costs of $850 against the plaintiff.

The court described how the plaintiff failed to follow the Federal Courts Rules in numerous ways, including failing to disclose a proper cause of action in the pleadings, failing to properly effect service, failing to properly bring documents before the court, failing to properly swear affidavits, and failing to file evidence on the merits of the claim. All together, these failings were fatal to the plaintiff’s case and resulted in costs awarded against him.

Self-represented litigants should take this case as a warning that bringing an action in Federal Court is a complex task, which can easily fail due to technicalities. Self-represented litigants should carefully review the Federal Courts Rules to minimize the chances of their cases being dismissed on technical grounds, or consider whether they may be able to bring an action in provincial small claims courts, which may be significantly easier to navigate for self-represented litigants.