RSS FeedHuge Changes to Ontario Civil Procedure
The McGuinty government has today announced that it will be making significant changes to the civil justice system in Ontario.
The changes arise in response to Justice Osborne’s recommendations for civil procedure reforms. The government initially commissioned the report to find ways to improve access to justice and speed up the processing of civil matters.
An extensive list of the recommendations of the Civil Justice Reform Project can be found here. The abridged highlights are also published in the 2008-2009 Ontario Annual Practice - a book which just about every civil procedure student and civil lawyer owns - at page vi.
Just over a year later, the government has agreed to implement 25 major reforms to the rules of Ontario’s civil courts, including the following major recommendations:
- An increase in the jurisdiction of the Small Claims Court from $10,000 to $25,000.
- An increase in the Rule 76 Simplified Procedure limit from $50,000 to $100,000.
- Parties will be allowed up to two hours of oral discovery for Rule 76 actions.
- Each party will be limited to a total of seven hours of pre-trial Examination for Discovery (unless the parties consent or the court orders otherwise.)
- New rules of summary judgment that make it less likely for costs to be awarded against the party that loses the motion. These costs awards acted as a disincentive to bring a summary judgment motion.
- A judge can now order a “mini-trial” to hear oral evidence on a summary judgment motion.
- The civil court rules will now contain a general principle of proportionality to guide their interpretation. The time and expense devoted to any proceeding must now reflect what is at stake. Cases that are straight forward and of lower value should not take as long or cost as much as large, complex cases.
Mr. Justice Osborne had the following to say about today’s announcement:
“By acting on my recommendations, the Attorney General is reducing cost and delay for individuals and businesses who use our civil courts. The reforms reflect the need for proportionality in our civil justice, which means that straightforward, lower value cases should not take as long or cost as much as large, complex cases.”
We have previously covered some of the Attorney General’s criminal law reforms on this website.
Kudos to the Hon. Mr. Chris Bentley for implementing these sweeping reforms that promise the speedier and cheaper resolution of cases.
It’s Official: E-Laws Printouts are Good Law!
Mr. Wisdom has pointed out how reliant we soon-to-be-lawyers are on technology. I, like him, cannot imagine living without CanLII, electronic library catalogs, and e-laws.
However, there has always been an undercurrent of resistance to technology from the old school bar that somehow - incredibly in my eyes - manages to get by just fine without electronic legal resources. For a long time, printouts of electronic case law and legislation have not been acceptable for use in court.
The general rule was that printouts are unacceptable or at least frowned-upon, especially in Superior Court proceedings, though some leeway was occasionally granted in the interests of expedience.
I am extremely happy today to report that the general rule is changing.
Ontario was the first province to begin publishing its laws online. That happened back in 2001 with the launch of e-laws. That was a progressive move to help make the law more accessible to the public, and indeed, to help keep lawyers up to date on changes that could take time to get published in print.
As of November 30, 2008, the government has gone a step further.
According to a MAG press release, copies of regulations and statutes published on e-laws will now be an official source of law.
Both of the following are official:
- An on-screen display of a statute or regulation viewed on, or downloaded from, the e-Laws website
- A printout of a statute or regulation viewed on, or downloaded from, the e-Laws website.
According to Ontario’s Attorney General, Chris Bentley (a fellow Londoner):
“E-Laws provides Ontarians with easy access to Ontario’s laws. Making e-Laws an official source of law recognizes the reality of today’s modern technological environment. Eliminating our reliance on printed publications not only makes the law more accessible but does so in a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way.”
These changes were made pursuant to a new regulation under the Legislation Act, 2006, [S.O. 2006, c. 21, Sch. F].
Ironically, the regulation (presumably under s. 41(1)) is too new to have been published on the E-Laws website just yet. I haven’t been able to find it!
Ontario Expands “Justice on Target” Initiative
According to the Ontario Attorney General’s website:
In 1992, it took an average of 4.3 court appearances to bring a charge to completion. By last year, this figure had more than doubled to 9.2 appearances. Over the same period, the average time needed to complete a charge has gone from 115 days to 205 days.
One of AG Chris Bentley’s prime initiatives during his office has been to address these delays in the criminal justice system.
Bentley is the Liberal M.P.P. for my riding of London West. Because of his personal knowledge of our court’s delays, Bentley made London the testing ground for his “Justice on Target” program. The program aims to identify bottlenecks and address them to reduce the number of adjournments and the amount of time it takes for criminal cases to be resolved.
The Ministry of the Attorney General has issued the following (slightly edited) press release today:
—
Accelerating The Pace Of Justice
McGuinty Government Selects Three Courthouses For Next Phase Of Justice On Target Strategy
NEWS
The Ontario Courts of Justice in Newmarket, North York and London have been chosen to begin the province’s intensive, sustained effort to move cases through the justice system faster.
This is the next step in the Justice on Target strategy , to reduce unproductive criminal court delays and appearances by making more effective use of justice resources.
These courthouses have been designated as “action sites” to improve the pace of justice. Teams, led by Regional Senior Justice Bruce Durno and Senior Crown Attorney Ken Anthony, will work to quickly identify, test and implement new ideas.
Successful initiatives will then be rolled out in other courthouses across the province to help achieve the target of a 30 per cent reduction in the provincial average of days and court appearances needed to complete a criminal case. Progress towards the targets in each courthouse will be measured and reported online.
QUOTE
“Our expert teams will be working closely with all justice participants in these three courthouses initially - but the goal is to identify, test and implement approaches that will make criminal justice faster province-wide,” said Attorney General Chris Bentley. “We’re committed to making the justice system more effective for everyone - victims, witnesses, and the public who pay for it.”
QUICK FACT
* With 600,000 charges entering the system every year, saving one minute per charge could save seven years of court time.
—
My personal London criminal justice pet peeve: simple disclosure requests that take six months to fulfill.
New Proposed Apology Legislation in Ontario
Just over a month ago I said on Slaw,
…government officials should also review legislation relating to liability of public apologies so that responsible companies like Maple Leaf are not penalized in the process.
It seems someone was paying attention.
A new proposed law would address this issue. The Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario said in a release today,
The Apology Act would, if passed:
- Allow individuals and organizations, such as hospitals and other public institutions, to apologize for an accident or wrongdoing, without it being used as evidence of liability in a civil legal proceeding under provincial law
- Help victims by acknowledging that harm has been done to them — an apology is often key to the healing process
- Promote accountability, transparency and patient safety by allowing open and frank discussions between patients and health care providers
- Enhance the affordability and speed of the justice system by fostering the resolution of civil disputes and shortening or avoiding litigation.
B.C., Manitoba, and Saskatchewan have already enacted similar legislation.
xPD from Slaw.
One-Stop Shop Legal Services in Ontario
The Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario announced today a new website and hotline to provide legal information.
Information is available on:
- Finding a lawyer
- Tickets and fines
- Lawsuits and disputes
- Family and criminal law
- Human rights, and
- Wills and Estates
The site provides services in 23 languages to reflect the increasing cultural diversity of the Province, and the hotline has up to 170 languages. Minority access to legal information is a concern that has arisen in many different contexts.
Attorney-General, Chris Bentley, said,
Ontarians now have a place to start when they need basic legal information about our justice system. Justice Ontario is the one-stop destination that puts answers to your basic questions about the legal system just a click or a phone call away.
The site is part of broader strategies to reform the Civil and Criminal system.
The Access Partnership that helped develop the site includes representation from the following organizations:
- Law Society of Upper Canada
- Ontario Bar Association
- Advocates’ Society
- County and District Law Presidents Association
- Ontario Trial Lawyers Association
- Legal Aid Ontario
- Community Legal Education Ontario
- Pro Bono Law Ontario
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