News Articles

Hurray for Common Sense

I am pleased to advise those of you who criticized our justice system for being too cumbersome, time consuming and expensive, that the powers-that-be are listening.  Recently, our Court rules were amended to introduce what are called the "Streamlined Procedure Rules".  The new rules apply to claims under $75,000.00 and are designed to increase access to the justice system by reducing or eliminating a number of procedures which are, quite frankly, cumbersome, time consuming and expensive. 

For those of you who have been in a lawsuit before, you will recall that one of the great burdens (and excuses for delay) is the production of an affidavit of documents.  This is an affidavit which each party is required to prepare which lists the documents in their possession or control.   Prior to the introduction of the new rules one could easily wait months for the opposing party to produce one of these.  Under the new rules it is mandatory to produce the affidavit within 30 days.  If you don't, you are automatically liable to pay an immediate penalty of up to $1,500.00.  In other words, a relatively short time limit has been set to produce the affidavit which must be complied with on pain of a monetary sanction.

Additionally, under the former rules one had to produce all of the documents which one had, no matter how insignificant they were, as long as there was at least some sort of connection with the lawsuit.  Under the new rules, only those documents which are directly relevant are now producible.  In other words, there will be a great saving of time and expense because far fewer documents are now required to be produced.

After documents are produced, the next step in a lawsuit is to conduct examinations for discovery.   During these, each party to the action is questioned under oath about their knowledge of the events.  This is also an area where matters can become unduly lengthy, sometimes continuing for days or even weeks.  The new rules provide that the examinations must be completed within 6 hours, again saving time and expense.   Additionally, as with the document disclosure, the scope of permissible questions has been restricted to promote expediency.  In other words, you don't have to sit around while the other lawyer wastes time asking irrelevant questions.

Further, prior to the introduction of the new rules, there was no obligation to disclose witnesses.  Each party now has to advise the other about persons they know who possess knowledge about the matters in issue.   This will be helpful because you will now know who you need to talk to "get the whole story".   It will also avoid the situation where a last minute surprise witness shows up to spoil the day.  While "spoiling the day" can be fun, it is also time consuming and expensive.  The more information one has, the greater the chance of resolving a matter without a trial.

Lastly, the new rules provide that each party must, at least 7 days before the beginning of a trial, provide a short written statement of the factual and legal theory they intend to advance. This will promote even further disclosure, prompt settlement and reduce the odds of encountering a  "trial by ambush".

The goal of these changes is to reduce the cost and thus increase access to the justice system...and doesn't that just make sense.

By Tom McCartney