Ontario Civil Justice Reform Project
As both litigant and counsel know, the cost of litigation is often prohibitive and institutional delays are not uncommon (there never seems to be enough judges to go around). I therefore took some time to read the long-awaited Report of the Ontario Civil Justice Reform Project, which was released in November 2007. Coulter Osborne was appointed in 2006 to lead the Project. Mr. Osborne is a widely respected, retired judge of the Court of Appeal and the Province's Integrity Commissioner. The Report can be found on-line at http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/
Mr. Osborne reviewed potential areas of reform and made recommendations to make the civil justice system more accessible and affordable. A variety of organizations and individuals made submissions, including the OBA. Some of Mr. Osborne's recommendations are bold and certainly worth considering:
- Additional Superior Court judicial resources in Brampton, Hamilton, Newmarket and Toronto and more judges generally;
- Increase the monetary jurisdiction of the Small Claims Court to $25,000 with no right of appeal from a judgment of less than $1,500;
- Increase the monetary jurisdiction for Simplified Procedural actions to $100,000;
- Amend Rule 20 to allow the court to weigh evidence, evaluate credibility and draw any reasonable inference from the evidence. This power, however, ought not to be exercised where the interests of justice require that the issue be determined at trial;
- Encouraged lawyers to consider new and innovative billing methods that promote access to justice for litigants with civil litigation issues who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford counsel;
- Amend Rule 31 to provide that each party has up to a maximum of one day (7 hours) to examine parties adverse in interest subject to agreement otherwise or a court order;
- Law Commission of Ontario to review of the role of the Divisional Court as a court of intermediate appellant jurisdiction and make recommendations regarding the Court's future role in jurisdiction.
It will be interesting to see how the Report fares and what recommendations are implemented.
Thanks for reading, Justin
