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.