Despite a massive caseload, the Toronto Region of the Superior Court ran a hugely successful trial sittings this fall for personal injury trials. Historically, personal injury start dates were scattered throughout the fall and spring months, with jury panels being rounded up multiple times throughout those months. For fall 2017, Toronto scheduled roughly 150 personal […]
Year: 2017
Fall civil trial sittings are about to get underway in several jurisdictions across Ontario. This is a time of year when the Juries Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. J.3 comes into play. The key section of interest to lawyers is section 20, which says that a lawyer can get a copy of the jury panel list 10 […]
Who the witnesses will be is surprisingly one of the most often overlooked issues until late in the course of litigation, usually when a pre-trial conference memorandum requires a list of witnesses. Lawyers should start working on their list of witnesses the day they open the file, just as an affidavit of documents is contemplated […]
While Hassell Trial Counsel’s focus is on Superior Court civil trials, we get questions about Small Claims Court trials. Here’s an overview of the Small Claims Court process and some useful links. Small Claims Court has jurisdiction to award a maximum of $35,000.00 (as of January 1, 2020). Below is a brief outline of the […]
What are the purposes of trial scheduling Court and what does counsel need to do to prepare for trial scheduling Court? Purpose of Trial Scheduling Court The main purposes of trial scheduling Court are twofold. First, there is a gatekeeping function by the Courts to ensure only those cases that are truly ready for trial […]
If you conduct personal injury trials in Toronto and surrounding communities, the Toronto Sittings Project is of great interest. Announced May 15, 2017, Toronto is experimenting with personal injury trial sittings for the fall 2017 and spring 2018. All 2-3 week personal injury trials are being reshuffled to 4 week long trial sittings starting November 27, 2017 and […]
Civil Practice Court was introduced to replace Motions Scheduling Court in Toronto. It’s main function is to institute a gatekeeping Judge for long and/or complex motions and applications before a Judge, such as motions for summary judgment. Simple motions up to 2 hours long can be scheduled by email. Longer and more complex motions before […]
Mediation is mandatory for Toronto actions. Of course, “mandatory mediation” is an oxymoron because mediation is supposed to be a voluntary process. Prior to May 1, 2017, a party could set an action down for trial provided that mediation was complete or scheduled. From May 1, 2017 onwards, mediation must be complete before an action […]
On the Record, Episode 19 is about Juries. Mick Hassell interviews Brian Cameron, a personal injury lawyer at Oatley Vigmond. Over half of Superior Court trials are Jury trials and MVAs make up a large number of the Jury trials. Brian shares his thoughts on how Juries may assess cases and the potential impact of plaintiff advertising upon potential Jurors. […]
Bankruptcy ends more litigation and trials than it creates. In fact, bankruptcy should be considered as a possible defence in every case. Here are some Ontario Superior Court of Justice bankruptcy and insolvency statistics. The statistics reinforce how niche bankruptcy and insolvency litigation before the Courts is. Proceedings commenced: Set downs and pre-trial conferences: Bankruptcy […]
The concept of litigation portfolio management involves a lawyer or law firm viewing a group of litigation cases as a whole as opposed to considering cases one by one. Doing so means the lawyer or law firm can see the forest for the trees. In other words, the lawyer is looking at the big picture of the litigation environment […]
Are you thinking about sending an MVA case to trial? Make sure you’ve considered the following: Trial Resources Resources by a trial lawyer, available online: Trial Services If you would like legal advice from an experienced trial lawyer: Disclaimer This website and all resources are trial information, not trial legal advice. Copyright Notice © The content of […]
Jury trials and MVA trials are on the rise across Ontario. Here are some highlights: Source: Ministry of the Attorney General Looking ahead, with MVA trials dominating the Superior Court, it will be interesting to see how the LAT impacts MVA trial numbers. This is dependent on how many plaintiffs opted to go to Court […]
We read a lot about trials over here and recently stumbled upon a goldmine of advocacy and trial resources, including in podcast format. John Hollander runs The Advocacy Club based out of Ottawa. In addition to some very practical handbooks authored by John for Irwin Law, John also hosts podcasts on the issues of careers […]
Mick enjoyed presenting to the Ontario Paralegal Association (OPA) at their first memberships meeting of 2017 on January 28, 2017. He touched on two of his favourite topics: trial advocacy and cross-examination. Details on the presentation, including presentation slides and a curated selection of online trial resources for paralegals can be found here: www.trialcounsel.ca/OPA *The presentation […]