NOTICE TO THE PROFESSION AND PARTIES

PROTOCOL FOR CIVIL PROCEEDINGS

THE SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE

CENTRAL EAST REGION

Effective March 1, 2024, updated June 24, 2024

This Notice to the Profession and Parties applies to civil proceedings in the Superior Court of Justice, Central East Region, commencing March 1, 2024.

This Notice supersedes all previous region-specific Practice Directions and Notices to the Profession for the Central East Region issued prior to this date which are hereby revoked unless specifically referenced in this Notice.

Counsel and parties are also advised to refer to the relevant Parts of the following, which are available on the Superior Court of Justice website at: www.ontariocourts.ca/scj:

Consolidated Provincial Practice Direction;

Consolidated Practice Direction for Divisional Court Proceedings; and,

Notice to the Profession, Parties, Public, and the Media – effective April 19, 2022

In addition, counsel should refer to the applicable Provincial Notices to the Profession.

OVERVIEW

PART 1 – PRESUMPTIVE MODE OF HEARING

Change to Presumptive Mode of Hearing

PART 2 – FILING COURT DOCUMENTS

PART 3 – UPLOADING OF MATERIALS (Case Center)

Generally
Civil
Release of Orders and Endorsements

PART 4 – CIVIL PROCEEDINGS

Motions to Transfer a Civil Proceeding
Designated Counties for the Commencement of Mortgage Proceedings
Motions in Writing
Rule 7 Motions
Consent, Without Notice, and Unopposed Motions (Basket Motions)
Short Motions (One hour or less)
Long Motions, Summary Judgment Motions and Applications (more than one hour)
Emergency Motions or Applications
Costs in Civil Motions and Applications
Civil Conferences
Setting Down for Trial
Administrative Dismissals
1. Scheduling the Contested Motion for Status Hearing
Pretrials
Fixing Trial Dates and Triage Court
Regional May and November Trial Sittings
Construction Lien

OVERVIEW

This Notice applies to civil matters in the Superior Court of Justice in the Central East Region (“the Region”), until further notice.

It is subject to change from time to time as may be necessary.

PART 1 – PRESUMPTIVE MODE OF HEARING

For complete information on the Presumptive Mode of Hearing Guidelines for the Superior Court of Justice Guidelines, please see:

Guidelines To Determine Mode of Proceeding in Civil | Superior Court of Justice

The chart below lists the presumptive modes of hearing for civil matters in the Central East region.

		In person	Virtual	In writing
Civil	Jury trials	x
	Non-jury trials	x
	Judge-alone trials	X
	Pre-trial conferences involving trial management and scheduling issues only		x
	Pre-trial conferences: settlement and trial management conferences		X
	Case conferences/case management		x
	Costs			X
	Assessment hearings		X
	Triage Court		x
	Consent motions, without notice motions, and unopposed Motions			x
	Contested Short Motions and Applications		x
	Contested Long Motions and Applications	x

A. Change to Presumptive Mode of Hearing

All events that have been scheduled as a virtual hearing prior to the release of this Notice will proceed as scheduled as a virtual hearing despite the Guidelines. As new events are being scheduled, they will proceed in accordance with this Notice and in accordance with the Guidelines.

All events that are being scheduled on or after March 1, 2024 will proceed in the presumptive mode of hearing set out above unless a judge or where applicable an associate justice, prior to the hearing, has directed otherwise.

Any party seeking to change the presumptive mode of hearing for an event must raise this request with the court at the earliest opportunity and no later than the first scheduling the event.

The request must be made in writing and emailed to the Trial Coordinator’s Office, copied to all other parties. The Trial Coordinator’s Office will arrange for a telephone or virtual attendance before a judge.

Failure to raise this at the first available opportunity will result in the event proceeding in the presumptive mode of hearing. The request will not be considered on the scheduled hearing date.

PART 2 – FILING COURT DOCUMENTS

The following link contains information regarding standard document naming protocol and the electronically filing of materials for Court and Court fee payments: Documents MUST be electronically filed.

Notice to the Profession, Parties, Public and the Media – Standard Document Naming Protocol – Electronically filing materials

Documents filed with the Court must comply with the court filing requirements in Rule01 to 12 of the Rules of Civil Procedure;

Court documents which do not comply with these document standards, including the maximum length for such documents, will NOT be accepted (i) for filing, and (ii) cannot be uploaded to Case Centre (formerly CaseLines).

PLEASE ENSURE STRICT COMPLIANCE WITH TIMELINES and COURT FILING DOCUMENT STANDARDS.

It is expected that written materials and documents for civil matters will be filed with the court electronically in the manner specified below. If, however, a party is unable to file materials and documents electronically, they may file them in person at the courthouse filing office.

For any documents which counsel will be relying on whether they be for a motion, long motion, pre-trial conference, or trial, counsel must first consider whether they intend to refer to such documents during argument. Counsel are encouraged to read the Best Practices Guidelines which have been published by both the Ontario Bar Association and the Advocates’ Society which provide helpful guidance on how to conduct a virtual hearing.

Counsel are strongly encouraged to review and follow the Notice to the Profession, Parties, Public and the Media | Superior Court of Justice, Part I, sections 3 and 4. for guidance on how to properly prepare, file, and upload documents electronically. Please note that the naming convention must be in accordance with the standard document naming protocol set out in Part C of Chief Justice Morawetz’s Consolidated Notice to the Profession, Litigants, Accused Persons, Public and the Media.

Where counsel file more than 25 pages of documentary evidence, whether by affidavit or otherwise, counsel must, in addition to the filing of such documentation, file a Compendium which shall only contain those documents and caselaw that counsel will actually refer to in argument.

PART 3 – UPLOADING OF MATERIALS (Case Centre (formerly CaseLines))

A. Generally

It is the responsibility of the parties (and former counsel), upon receipt of the Case Centre (formerly CaseLines) invite to invite new counsel or party, if there has been a change in counsel or the contact information of the current counsel/party is incorrect. Similarly, counsel may invite their legal assistant to upload the event materials.

How? You can do so by locating the case (found on your View Case List screen) and selecting Update Case. Next, click on the People tab found in the case file and then the Invite New Participant. Enter the participant’s email address and select the bundles you would like to provide them access to (i.e. the event(s) and Orders and Endorsements bundles). Once you click Invite, an automated Case Centre (formerly CaseLines) email will be sent to the person containing a link to the case.

Failure to comply with the above may result in the event not proceeding as scheduled and, where appropriate, judicial sanctions and/or terms may be imposed.

Only court documents which have been accepted for filing are to be uploaded. Should either party upload documents which have not been filed, the party must bring this to the attention of the presiding judge.

For updated, detailed information and instructions, please refer to the link here.

B. Civil

Case Centre (formerly CaseLines) is be used for all civil events, with the exception of civil conferences and motions heard in-writing.

For full details, refer to the Notice to the Profession, Parties, Public and the Media | Superior Court of Justice.

All material that will be relied upon at any civil event, except those noted above, must be uploaded to Case Centre (formerly CaseLines) in order to be considered at the hearing.

When counsel is preparing a factum, they must hyperlink all references to caselaw to an electronic database such as CanLii. The hyperlink must NOT be to another document which has been filed or submitted online but rather MUST be to an external URL and NOT password protected. Please see Case Center in the Superior Court of Justice: A Guide to Requirements Counsel MUST NOT file Briefs of Authorities UNLESS the caselaw they intend to refer to is not found on an electronic database like CanLii.

A complete list of Case Centre (formerly CaseLines) guides is accessible based on your account’s role in the system at one of the following links.

For counsel: https://answers.legalprof.thomsonreuters.com/casecenter_canada/outsidecounsel

For self-represented litigants: https://answers.legalprof.thomsonreuters.com/casecenter_canada/self-represented-lit-1

In summary, in addition to compliance with Rule 4 (Court Documents) of the Rules of Civil Procedure, it is the responsibility of the parties to:

Upload all filed documents to Case Centre (formerly CaseLines) no later than three days before the hearing due. Rule05.3(4) of the Rules of Civil Procedure;
The parties should expect to receive Case Centre (formerly CaseLines)’ invite at least three (3) days prior to the event. If you have not received the Case Centre (formerly CaseLines) invite prior to three days before the hearing, it is the party’s responsibility to contact the Court Office to enquire and obtain your Case Centre (formerly CaseLines) invite;
The documents must be uploaded to the appropriate bundle created for the event. The hearing judge will only have access to that specific event bundle; and,
Ensure that the uploaded documents comply with Rule05.3 of the Rules of Civil Procedure.

Failure to comply with the above may result in the event not proceeding as scheduled and, where appropriate, judicial sanctions and/or terms may be imposed.

The following specific directions on what to upload or not upload must also be complied with:

Affidavits of Service – Upload affidavits of service to Case Centre (formerly CaseLines) only where service may be an issue.
Do Not Upload Sealed Documents.
Motions for Removal as Lawyer– in civil matters, unredacted motion materials in such motions should not be uploaded into Case Centre (formerly CaseLines). These documents should be emailed to the Trial Coordinator’s Office.
Upload Pleadings– parties must ensure that all pleadings have been uploaded into the Pleadings sub-bundle in Case Centre (formerly CaseLines).
Upload Prior Orders and Endorsements– Parties must ensure that all previous relevant orders and endorsements in the case have been uploaded into the Orders and Endorsements bundle in Case Centre (formerly CaseLines).

C. Release of Orders and Endorsements

Where an event was heard using Case Centre (formerly CaseLines), court staff may release orders and endorsements to the parties by uploading them to Case Centre (formerly CaseLines) rather than sending them by e-mail, subject to any direction from the presiding judicial official.

When orders and endorsements are released and updated to Case Centre (formerly CaseLines), the parties will receive notification that Case Centre (formerly CaseLines) has been updated. Parties can then obtain these documents by accessing the Orders and Endorsements sub-bundle in Case Centre (formerly CaseLines). In some cases, where the court has reserved, the presiding judge may also send a copy of the reasons or endorsement to the parties via email.

PART 4 – CIVIL PROCEEDINGS

A. Motions to Transfer a Civil Proceeding

All requests for a transfer of a civil proceeding from one judicial region to another must comply with Rule 13. 1.02 of the Rules of Civil Procedure.

All such motions by the parties must be brought in the judicial region to which the proceeding is sought to be transferred.

The court may, on its own initiative, at a motion or other hearing, transfer of the proceeding to another judicial region where appropriate.

B. Designated Counties for the Commencement of Mortgage Proceedings

Pursuant to Rule 13.1.01(3) of the Rules of Civil Procedure, which came into effect on March 31, 2015, Barrie or Oshawa are designated as the places for where mortgage proceedings may be commenced for property located anywhere in the Central East Region.

C. Motions in Writing

Where all interested parties agree that a motion may be decided on written materials and by written submissions (without an attendance in person or virtually) under Rule 37.12.1, then the parties must agree on a timetable and when all court documents are ready, file same with the court in accordance with Part 2.

Uploading to Case Centre (formerly CaseLines) is NOT required.

Motions in writing will be forwarded to a presiding judge to be dealt with as expeditiously as possible.

D. Rule 7 Motions

Rule 7 of the Rules of Civil Procedure addresses the approval of proposed settlements for parties under disability. In the Central East Region, Rule 7 motions and applications should be submitted as in-writing motions through the filing office. It is the responsibility of counsel to clearly indicate that a motion or application falls under Rule 7. If counsel and parties wish to have their Rule 7 motion heard in person, they should send an email to the local Trial Coordinator, who will then forward the request to the respective judge.

Uploading to Case Centre (formerly CaseLines) is NOT required for in-writing Rule 7 motions.

E. Consent, Without Notice, and Unopposed Motions (Basket Motions)

All basket motions in writing must be filed with the court office in accordance with the filing requirements above and payment of the applicable filing fee being made. They will be put before a judge in chambers for review in the normal course. Basket motions may not be “filed” by delivering them to the Trial Co-ordinator for a judge to review, or by sending them by email or otherwise directly to a judge of the court.

Uploading to Case Centre (formerly CaseLines) is NOT required.

Simple, procedural, consent, and uncontested matters must be as a basket motion. A draft Order must be filed in Word and PDF format.

Where these are brought on a regular or short motions list, the motion judge will direct the party to file the “basket motion” and may make a cost award against the party bringing the regular motion.

Contested motions (and those anticipated to be opposed or unknown whether they will be opposed) should not be heard as basket motions. These motions should be scheduled and heard in a motions court.

The judge or associate judge reviewing the “basket motion” may ask for further submissions or refer part or all of the matter to a viva voce hearing. The judge may also direct that notice of the motion be served on other side or direct that the motion be heard in open court (on notice to all other interested parties).

F. Short Motions (One hour or less)

i. Scheduling the Short Motion

Motions that are expected to take one hour or less must be scheduled on a regular motions day by contacting the Trial Office, filing the motion material at the court office at the location where the motion is to be heard and also filing through the JSO Civil Portal.

Filing a cross-motion(s) does NOT extend the estimated time for the motion to be heard (the estimated time remains less than one hour otherwise a long motion date must be obtained).

The presiding judge may adjourn a short motion where a reasonable estimate of time for the short motion exceeds one hour to deal with all the issues.

Parties must serve and file the short motion materials including the Affidavit of Service. Although currently Case Centre (formerly CaseLines) is not being used for short motions, a judge may direct it to be used. When the judge directs, parties must upload the filed motion materials to Case Centre (formerly CaseLines). Full expansion of all events to Case Centre (formerly CaseLines) is expected to be completed in the next few months.

ii. Filing and Uploading Motion Materials

The moving and responding parties must comply with the filing requirements set out above in Part 2. The parties must comply with the Uploading of Documents set out above in Part 3. As set out above, uploading of all motion materials must be done on or before the day and time for filing a Confirmation. See information above relating to hyperlinking caselaw in Case Centre (formerly CaseLines).

Late filing of short motion documents or filing documents that fail to meet document standards under Rule 4 of the Rules of Civil Procedure, will not be accepted by the court staff and, therefore, are not permitted to be uploaded to Case Centre (formerly CaseLines).

A party’s request to allow late-filed or late-served motion materials shall be addressed by the presiding motions judge who will determine whether the motion will proceed with or without the late materials or if it will be adjourned. If adjourned, cost consequences may result.

iii. Confirmations

Confirmation (Form 37B or 38B) must be filed:

By the moving party by 2:00 pm, five (5) days before the hearing date;
The responding party by 10:00 am four (4) business days before the hearing; and/or,
The parties may file a Confirmation jointly on or before 2:00 pm, five (5) days before the hearing.

The parties or their counsel should consult with each other prior to filing their Confirmations unless the parties are self-represented and prohibited by court order from communicating.

Where a Confirmation has not been filed by either party, the short motion will not proceed and the date will be vacated.

The Confirmation must list only the specific issues that are to be decided at the event. They should also indicate which materials the judge should review with clear reference to the specific volume, tab and page numbers. Referring to “all” prior affidavits or documents is not appropriate and will be ignored. Referring to documents that the party does not intend to refer to in submissions is discouraged and may be a factor in determining costs.

The Confirmation must also include an appropriate time estimate for submissions on all issues in the motion including time required by the other party. If a party chooses not to make submission on an issue, the court is entitled to consider that the party has abandoned that specific issue.

G. Long Motions, Summary Judgment Motions and Applications (more than one hour)

Summary judgment motions, long motions and applications, which are over one hour, are collectively referred to as long motions in this Notice.

Since the introduction of the Running Civil Long Motions List (commonly referred to as the “running list”), parties were required to place their matters on the running list in one of two ways: i) with the consent of the parties and scheduled through Calendly; or ii) by order of a triage court judge. Fixed long motion dates were not usually assigned unless specifically directed by the triage judge, however, this practice has now changed.

Long Motion Requests Starting June 24, 2024

Effective June 24, 2024, all long motion requests are to be addressed at triage court where it will be determined if the motion is ready to proceed by the triage judge. All consent and contested long motions will be heard in person, unless otherwise specified by the judge presiding over the motion. If counsel wish to have their long motion heard virtually, they should bring it to the attention of the motion judge. Parties should provide a letter which is no longer two pages stating the reasons why the long motion should not be heard in-person and email the letter to the local Trial Coordinator.

Barrie, Bracebridge, Orillia	Barrie.SCJ.TC@ontario.ca
Newmarket	Newmarket.SCJ.TC@ontario.ca
Oshawa	Oshawa.SCJ.TC@ontario.ca
Peterborough, Lindsay, Cobourg	Peterborough.SCJ.TC@ontario.ca

Long Motions that Have Already Been Placed on the Running List

For all long motions that are already on the existing running list, it is the responsibility of counsel to schedule a triage court date to speak to the matter. The triage court judge will then decide if the long motion is ready to proceed, and if a hearing date should be assigned. The Trial Coordinator’s Office will not contact parties to advise them that any matters they have on the existing running list, now need to be re-scheduled.

i. Scheduling a Long Motion

Counsel and parties must discuss the estimated time they will require for the long motion prior to completing the Calendly request.

Fourteen (14) business days prior to the triage court, parties must ensure that all materials, including factums and compendiums have been filed with the court and subsequently uploaded to Case Centre (formerly CaseLines).

Parties must also ensure that cross examinations have been completed, and that the parties are ready to proceed on two days’ notice. Counsel and parties should not obtain a triage court date unless the preceding requirements have been complied with.

To file the necessary motion materials referenced above, parties must first obtain a triage court date through Calendly. The court filing office will not accept materials unless counsel and parties have obtained a triage court date.

If the necessary materials are not filed with the court and subsequently uploaded to Case Centre (formerly CaseLines) at least fourteen days prior to the triage court date, the matter will be removed from the triage court list.

Long Applications

Note: When counsel and parties are initiating a proceeding by way of a Notice of Application, they should first schedule a triage court date through Calendly. Once a triage court date has been obtained, parties should submit the Calendly email confirmation with their Notice of Application to the filing office to obtain their court file number. Subsequently, it becomes the responsibility of counsel and parties to email the local Trial Coordinator’s Office, to provide them with the new court file number so the event can be entered into their scheduling system.

a. Motions where all parties’ consent to be added:

The moving party will schedule a triage court date by completing an online request through Calendly at https://calendly.com/ce-civil.

Calendly will send out an email notification confirming that a triage court date has been assigned.

Note: The online request will trigger an automated email confirmation. It is the requestor’s responsibility to forward the email confirmation, and any subsequent automated information emails to ALL active parties to the action. In addition, the email confirmation should also be submitted to the Court when filing motion material through the court filing office or through the JSO Civil Filing Portal.

Once the date is obtained, then counsel can file and upload materials to Case Centre (formerly CaseLines).

b. Motions where one or more parties is opposing attendance at Triage Court

The moving party will complete an online request through Calendly at https://calendly.com/ce-civil to obtain a triage court date.

The following steps must be followed before your motion will be considered by the triage judge:

The party seeking to obtain a triage court date shall send a letter of request to CErunninglist@ontario.ca (copied to all parties) with the subject line: Request to Schedule long motion – OPPOSED – *File Name and Number, Originating Court Location*, together with a memorandum not to exceed two pages in length detailing the history of the case and the reasons why the matter needs to be triaged. The triage court date obtained via Calendly must also be indicated in the letter or email confirmation from Calendly should be provided along with the request letter.
Any party who opposes the triage court appearance shall provide their position in a responding memorandum not to exceed two pages in length, sent to CErunninglist@ontario.cano later than five days after receipt of the requesting party’s email.
If no responding memorandum is received before the expiry of the five days, the triage judge will deal with the request as an unopposed request.
Parties will be advised by email as to the triage judge’s decision to add the contested motion to the triage court list.

ii. Timetabling

After the motion materials have been served on all interested parties, all counsel/litigants must agree in writing to a schedule for completion of all the steps necessary for the long motion to proceed on the scheduled date. This will include filing of all responding materials, reply materials, cross-examinations (if required) and filing of facta.

Counsel/litigants must file the Timetable or other documentation along with their Confirmation Form for motion.

If counsel and the litigants are NOT able to agree to a timetable within 30 days, the moving party must request a civil conference (as set out below) before a judge to set a timetable and/or other direction the judge deems appropriate. The court may consider costs if a party is unreasonably withholding agreement to a reasonable timetable proposal or is deliberately delaying the hearing of the motion.

In the event the long motion does not proceed on the scheduled hearing date and there is no timetable agreement or order, the court will consider this a significant factor in determining whether to grant an adjournment and/or to award costs and the quantum of costs of the aborted long motion hearing date.

iii. Adjournment of Long Motions / Applications

Counsel and parties will be given a minimum of two (2) days’ notice for the long motion. It is the expectation of counsel and the parties that they will be ready and prepared to proceed on the date called. Adjournments of long motions are discouraged, and counsel and parties should expect that unnecessary adjournments will attract cost awards.

a. Consent adjournments

If all parties consent in writing that the long motion is to be adjourned, one of the parties may email the court at CErunninglist@ontario.ca (copied to all other parties) with the subject line: Request to ADJOURN long motion – CONSENT – *File Name and Number, Originating Court Location* setting out:

the request for an adjournment;

1. that it is on consent of all interested parties; and,
2. the reasons why the adjournment is appropriate or necessary.

Only one adjournment will be granted on consent.

A Consent adjournment of a fixed-date long motion will not be given priority, unless otherwise directed by the triage judge. Counsel and parties will be placed back in queue and be given the next available long motion date. Counsel and litigants should not expect to be given an earlier date as a result of the consent adjournment.

b. Opposed adjournments more than five (5) days prior to the long motion hearing date

If counsel or a party seeks an opposed adjournment, the party seeking the adjournment shall:

Send a letter of request to CErunninglist@ontario.ca (copied to all parties) with the subject line: Request to ADJOURN long motion – OPPOSED – *File Name and Number, Originating Court Location* together with a memorandum not to exceed two pages in length detailing the history of the case and the reasons why an adjournment should be granted.
Any party who opposes the adjournment shall provide their position in a responding memorandum not to exceed two pages in length, sent to cerunninglist@ontario.ca no later than five days after receipt of the requesting party’s email.
If no responding memorandum is received, the triage judge will deal with the request as an unopposed request.
Parties will be advised by email as to the triage judge’s decision to adjourn the contested motion, which may include ordering a further attendance at Triage Court.

c. Consent or opposed adjournments within five (5) days of the long motion hearing date

Unless otherwise dealt with by a judge in advance of the long motion hearing date, any adjournments sought within five (5) days of the long motion hearing date, must be made to the presiding judge on the scheduled hearing date.

A copy of the timetable agreement must be provided to the motions judge.

Counsel and parties should be prepared to proceed with the long motion on the scheduled date in the event the adjournment is NOT granted. Counsel should not assume that an adjournment request will be granted.

If an adjournment is granted, all counsel and parties must bring and have available their Costs Outlines to permit the presiding judge to deal with the issue of costs of the adjournment and to make any other order for directions.

iv. Cancellation Policy

The parties may remove the motion from the triage court list if the date is no longer required (e.g. the matter settles). The “cancel” button is available in the confirmation email to remove the matter from triage court. IMPORTANT – the Court may order costs against any party who removes a matter from the running list that should not be removed.

v. Confirming the Long Motion and Application

Unless otherwise directed by a judge:

All LONG MOTIONS must be confirmed by email to the local Trial Coordinator’s Office. A copy of the Confirmation should also be uploaded to Case Center. Confirmations (revised form 37B) are due no later than 2pm, five (5) days prior to the hearing date, unless otherwise directed by the Regional Senior Justice or his/her designate.
All APPLICATIONS (revised form 38B) must be confirmed by email to the local Trial Coordinator’s Office no later than 2:00 pm, five (5) days prior to the hearing date. A copy of the Confirmation should also be uploaded to Case Center.

Failure of both parties to file a Confirmation will result in the long motion/application hearing date being vacated and made available to the next long motion on the running list.

vi. Filing with the court and Uploading the Long Motion and Application Materials to Case Centre (formerly CaseLines)

The moving party must serve and file the motion or Application materials (Notice of Motion/Application, supporting affidavits, and a draft order) along with the Proof of Service within 14 days of obtaining a Triage Court date. Subject to an order from a judge, failure to do so will result in the hearing date being vacated. A copy of the Calendly confirmation email must be included with the motion material for the materials to be accepted by the filing office.

All long motion and application materials are expected to be uploaded to Case Centre (formerly CaseLines) upon receipt of the Calendly invite.

vii. Facta and Compendiums

A factum (or Summary of Argument) is required for all long motions and applications. If the moving party does not file a factum required, the long motion/application will not be scheduled.

Once factum of the moving party and the responding party are served and filed, they are to be uploaded to Case Centre (formerly CaseLines) according to the agreed upon timetable. Regardless of the timetable agreed to by counsel and/or the parties, the facta of all parties shall be filed and uploaded to Case Centre (formerly CaseLines) no later than fourteen (14) days prior to the hearing of the long motion/Application.

No facta may exceed 20 pages without leave of the court and must comply with Rule 4 of the Rules of Civil Procedure with respect to document standards and formatting.

Failure to do so may result in the document being rejected for filing and, therefore, prohibited from being uploaded to Case Centre (formerly CaseLines).

A Compendium containing the court-filed documents and evidence that are essential to the hearing shall be provided for all long or complex motions. A party wishing to file a Compendium should file it with their factum. A joint Compendium may be filed with the respondent’s factum. Facta shall be hyperlinked to the cases referenced in the factum. Facta shall also be hyperlinked to the documents referenced and found in the Compendium. See information above relating to hyperlinking caselaw in Case Centre (formerly CaseLines).

H. Emergency Motions or Applications

Counsel and parties who wish to schedule an urgent motion or application must contact the Trial Coordination Office.

The party seeking to be given an urgent motions date shall send a letter of request to the appropriate Trial Coordination office (noted below), with the subject line: Request to SCHEDULE URGENT Motion/Application – *File Name and Number, Originating Court Location*,

Counsel will have to provide a letter setting out:

why the matter is urgent;
the nature of the relief sought;
whether the matter will be on notice or not;
whether the motion materials are ready to proceed;
a time estimate for the motion; and,
a draft order.

The triage judge will determine whether the urgent Long Motion or application should be assigned an early fixed hearing date or placed on the running list. The moving party will be advised accordingly.

Barrie, Bracebridge, Orillia	Barrie.SCJ.TC@ontario.ca
Newmarket	Newmarket.SCJ.TC@ontario.ca
Oshawa	Oshawa.SCJ.TC@ontario.ca
Peterborough, Lindsay, Cobourg	Peterborough.SCJ.TC@ontario.ca

I. Costs in Civil Motions and Applications

Rule 57.01(6) of the Rules of Civil Procedure requires that, unless the parties have agreed on costs: “every party who intends to seek costs for that step shall give to every other party involved in the same step, and bring to the hearing, a costs outline (Form 57B) not exceeding three pages in length.”

This permits the presiding judge, where feasible, to summarily determine the issue of costs. The overriding principle is that “the court shall devise and adopt the simplest, least expensive, and most expeditious process for fixing costs…” Rule 57.01(7).

Counsel are frequently attending motions and applications without costs outlines. When judges ask for the outlines or bills of costs, counsel often seek to file written submissions as to costs. This is contrary to the intention of the Rules, delays the determination of the issue, and requires judges to determine costs issues for motions and applications that were often decided weeks or months before.

All counsel appearing on motions and applications must attend the hearing with their costs outline in accordance with Rule 57.01 and be prepared to provide the cost outlines to the presiding judge. If a cost outline is not available to be given to the presiding judge, the judge may decline to make any costs award in favour of the defaulting party.

J. Civil Conferences

Counsel may request a civil conference with a Judge pursuant to Rule 50.13. A completed Civil Conference Request Form requesting a case conference before a Judge may be sent to CERcivilappointments@ontario.ca. These conferences are ONLY for procedural matters and will not last more than 30 minutes. The time limit will be strictly enforced. The conference may be by telephone or virtually, at the discretion of the Judge. The form must be fully completed, and the terms of the form complied with to be considered. A matter will not be added to the running list or be given a fixed date unless all motion material including responding and reply materials, facta, and compendiums have been filed.

NOTE: Rule 50.13 does not apply to actions governed by the Construction Act: O. Reg. 302/18, s. 10(9).

K. Setting Down for Trial

Once the trial record is set down for trial pursuant to Rule 48, Rule 48.04 sets out the consequences of setting the action down for trial. Rule 48.04 provides that a party who sets an action down for trial or consents to placing the action on the trial list cannot initiate or continue any form of discovery or interlocutory motion without leave of the court. Leave will be granted only in rare circumstances.

L. Administrative Dismissals

Effective May 13, 2024, all consent or confirmed unopposed motions addressing the dismissal timelines under Rule 48.14 of the Rules of Civil Procedure shall be brought by way of a motion in writing that will be heard as a “basket motion” before a judge. Consent timetables filed under this Rule will also be handled as a basket motion by a judge.

Any contested motion for a status hearing will first be addressed in the weekly triage court held every Thursday. Counsel will be expected to have consulted prior to the triage court concerning an agreed upon timetable that will address all steps required leading up to the actual motion. The triage judge will determine if the motion for a status hearing can be heard:

in-writing;
as an one-hour motion on a regular motions list; or,
or as a long motion (longer than one hour)

Parties are not required to file agreed upon timetables with the court or upload them to Case Centre (formerly CaseLines). However, they are required to email the timetables and a draft Order to the local Trial Coordinator 5 business days prior to the hearing date. The email address for the Trial Coordinators for every centre are listed below.

Barrie, Bracebridge, Orillia	Barrie.SCJ.TC@ontario.ca
Newmarket	Newmarket.SCJ.TC@ontario.ca
Oshawa	Oshawa.SCJ.TC@ontario.ca
Peterborough, Lindsay, Cobourg	Peterborough.SCJ.TC@ontario.ca

i. Scheduling a Contested Motion for Status Hearing

Triage court for administrative dismissals will be conducted from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. every Thursday. Attendance at Triage Court will take place virtually. There will be no more than twelve matters scheduled. Each matter will be for five minutes. The moving party is required to complete an online submission request through Calendly at Calendly – Central East Civil Long Motions & Triage Court (https://calendly.com/ce-civil/civil-admin-dismissals) to be placed on the Triage Court.

Upon selecting the preferred date/time, it is the responsibility of the scheduling party to ensure that email addresses of all parties are included in the “Add Guests” feature in Calendly. This ensures that all parties will receive all automated confirmation and scheduling notifications related to Triage Court. Upon completion of the Calendly scheduling process, the requestor and all parties indicated in the “Add Guests” section will receive an automated email confirming the date and time of Triage Court.

Completion of the Calendly request and the subsequent email confirmation confirms that the matters has been booked for Triage Court. The online request will trigger an automated confirmation email. It is the requestor’s responsibility to forward the confirmation email and any subsequent automated information emails to ALL active parties in the action. Please note that the confirmation email will also include the Zoom link for Triage Court.

M. Pre-trials

Civil pre-trials are held for actions outstanding in all centres in the Region. There is NO requirement that the parties certify that the case is capable of settlement.

Pre-trials can be scheduled one of two ways depending upon whether the parties are able to consent to a date. Note: it is the responsibility of counsel with carriage of the file to initiate a booking request for a pre-trial in accordance with this Protocol. The Court will not initiate scheduling of a pre-trial.

i. Pre-trial with Consent Date of all Parties

Any party may schedule a pre-trial on consent of all counsel and self-represented parties through Calendly at: https://calendly.com/ce-civil-pretrials. Upon selecting the preferred date/time, it is the responsibility of the scheduling party to ensure that email addresses of all parties are included in the “Add Guests” feature in Calendly. This ensures that all parties will receive all automated confirmation and scheduling notifications related to the pre-trial event. Upon completion of the Calendly scheduling process, the requestor and all parties indicated in the “Add Guests” section will receive an automated email confirming the date and time of the pre-trial.

The parties acknowledge that they will be in compliance with Rule 50.03.1(1) on the date of the pre-trial.

If one or more of the parties has not consented to the date and time scheduled, the pre-trial will be cancelled by the court.

ii. Pre-trial with Parties Unable to Agree to Consent Date

Counsel/parties shall make every effort to agree to a consent date for their civil pre-trial. Failing which, parties may email newmarket.civilpretrial@ontario.ca to assist with fixing a pre-trial date, with the subject line: Request to SCHEDULE pre-trial – OPPOSED – *File Name and Number, Originating Court Location*. The other side must be provided a copy of the email.

Opposing counsel shall have 48 hours from the date and time of the email request to respond setting forth the reason not to exceed two typed pages why a pre-trial should not be scheduled. All counsel on the matter must be copied on the email.

The requesting email and responding email message will be submitted to a triage judge, who will determine whether a pre-trial will be scheduled. Counsel for all parties will be advised of the decision by email.

Counsel/parties will be required to attend on the date scheduled by the court.

Pre-trial dates will, where possible, be scheduled within 120 days of the trial date or the commencement of the sittings.

Counsel and parties must comply with Rule 50 including that parties with authority to settle must attend pre-trial hearings. The court expects that counsel with carriage of the case and who will be trial counsel will be in attendance at the pre-trial.

To make pre-trial conferences productive, counsel and any self-represented party are required, at least seven days in advance of the pre-trial conference, to consult and fill out a Rule 50.08 Pre-Trial Conference Report form (or a Rule 76 Report to the Trial Judge form) with the required information respecting witnesses and any other portions of the Report on which the parties agree, for example, that summaries of the proposed evidence of witnesses or opening statements will be exchanged.

After the parties have consulted and partially completed the Report, it must be served, filed, AND uploaded to Case Centre (formerly CaseLines) by the plaintiff.

The fact that the parties agree on certain matters does not bind the pre-trial conference judge to accept the agreement with respect to the process to be followed or completion of the Report.

The parties must comply with the provisions of Rule 53.03 with respect to expert reports and deliver the Certificate referred to in Rule 53.03. Failure to deliver all expert reports in accordance with the timelines set forth in Rule 53.03 will likely attract a cost sanction and other directions and terms may be imposed by the pre-trial judge including an order prohibiting expert testimony by any expert whose report was not served in compliance with this Rule.

iii. Pre-trial Memorandums

No pre-trial memos shall be filed unless and until counsel are notified that the request for a pre-trial has been granted.

Pre-trial memos may not exceed 15 pages. Any additional documents that counsel wish the pre-trial judge to review must be hyperlinked or filed and uploaded in Case Centre (formerly CaseLines). Materials are not to be emailed.

All pre-trial memos must be filed electronically through the Justice Services Online platform via ontario.ca/page/file-civil-claim-online. Once accepted for filing, the pre-trial memos must be uploaded to Case Centre (formerly CaseLines) to the appropriate bundle as soon as counsel and/or the parties receive the Case Centre (formerly CaseLines) invitation and no later than five (5) days prior to the scheduled pre-trial.

In addition to the pre-trial memos and any additional documents, counsel are required to complete the Pre-Trial Confirmation Form and file it along with the pre-trial memos. Once accepted for filing, it must also be uploaded to Case Centre (formerly CaseLines) under the appropriate bundle.

Pre-trial memos that do not adhere to these requirements will not be accepted by the Court.

iv. Pre-trial Virtual Hearing Information

A Zoom link for the hearing will be available through Case Centre (formerly CaseLines) approximately one (1) to two (2) days prior to the event.

The only individuals who may be present for the pre-trial are counsel who have carriage of the file, a litigant who has authority to settle, any party who is self-represented, and the pre-trial judge.

No recording may be made of the pre-trial by any participant. The exception is where a party is self-represented, in which case a recording of the pre-trial will be made by court staff at the direction of the presiding judge for the assistance of the Court. Neither the recording nor a transcript of the pretrial conference may be released to anyone without an order of a judge of the Court.

N. Fixing Trial Dates and TRIAGE COURT (previously Central East Trial Scheduling Court – CETSC)

If the pre-trial judge is satisfied the case is ready for trial, the pre-trial judge will fix a trial date for either the September or January blitz civil sittings or any other time that may be available. If the pre-trial judge determines the case is not ready for trial, it will be the responsibility of counsel to comply with any order made by the pre-trial judge and thereafter to request either a further pre-trial or an attendance in Triage Court to fix a trial date.

If the anticipated length of a trial is greater than four (4) weeks, counsel will have to request a fixed trial date by writing to the Regional Senior Justice.

Triage Court will be scheduled every Tuesday. Attendance at the Triage Court will only be conducted virtually. Counsel will be assigned a six-minute appointment slots Triage Court will commence at 9:00 am.

The purpose of Triage Court is to allow counsel to deal with the following:

To fix a trial, long motion or application dates (where a judge has not already assigned the matter a date);
To fix a pre-trial date where a second pre-trial is required;
To adjourn a trial, long motion, or application;
To adjourn a pre-trial; and/or,
Any other matter related to the scheduling of a pre-trial, trial, long motion, or application.

A further purpose of Triage Court is to canvass whether there is any reason why a case cannot be tried at any of the courthouses in the CE region, so that courtroom and judicial resources can be maximized. Counsel and the parties will be required to show good reason why a case must be tried at a particular courthouse.

The moving party completes an online submission request for an appointment through Calendly at: https://calendly.com/ce-civil. Upon selecting the preferred date/time, it is the responsibility of the scheduling party to ensure that email addresses of all parties are included in the “Add Guests” feature in Calendly. This ensures that all parties will receive all automated confirmation and scheduling notifications related to Triage Court. Upon completion of the Calendly scheduling process, the requestor and all parties indicated in the “Add Guests” section will receive an automated email confirming the date and time of Triage Court.

Prior to the attendance, counsel shall upload into the Case Centre (formerly CaseLines) Triage Court bundle a memorandum not exceeding two (2) pages in length with the court at least three (3) days before Triage Court, setting forth the history of the action and the order being sought from the presiding triage judge. It is counsel’s responsibility to ensure that the Trial Record has been uploaded into the Case Centre (formerly CaseLines) Trial bundle at least three (3) days before Triage Court.

Triage Court Cancellations: Triage Court appearance can only be cancelled with the agreement of all concerned parties. If a cancellation is attempted unilaterally, the appearance will continue as initially scheduled. If the cancellation is agreed upon by all parties, one of the parties can remove the matter from the Triage Court list using the “cancel” button in Calendly three business days prior to the date.

Gowning NOT required for Triage Court.

O. Regional May and November Trial Sittings

As per the Notice to the Profession, dated February 20, 2024, the May and November 2024 civil trial sittings have been eliminated. The sittings in 2025 will also be eliminated. In their place, Central East region will run a Civil Blitz starting September 9, 2024, which will run for 5 weeks. Another Civil Blitz will from January 6, 2025 for 3 weeks. Please kindly refer to the Notice to the Profession for further read.

However, civil trials that have fixed dates will proceed as scheduled. In addition, civil long motions, applications, summary judgment motions and civil pre-trials will remain during the May 2024 and November 2024 trial sittings.

Please note that Trial Coordinators will not reach out to counsel to advise that their civil trials are being moved out of the May 2024 and November 2024 trial sittings and rescheduled to September 2024. Counsel bear the responsibility of thoroughly reviewing the Notice to the Profession, dated February 20, 2024, in order to acquaint themselves with the updated structure of the sittings.

If counsel have multiple trials on the trial list, they will not be expected to be in two places at the same time. However, if a matter was previously adjourned due to non-available of counsel relating to other trial commitments counsel will be expected to attend on the next scheduled trial date. No further adjournment will be allowed due to counsel’s other trial commitments absent exceptional circumstances.

Cases on the trial list will be called in order of their age, with the oldest cases being called first. Cases that were not reached in a previous sitting will be given priority.

Counsel should not expect that their trial (whether jury or non-jury) will necessarily be called in the court location where the claim was issued. Counsel and the parties should expect to travel to other court locations within Central East Region. Where such travel creates an impediment for either counsel, the parties, and/or the witnesses, this issue should be discussed in advance with the pre-trial judge and/or at Triage Court.

Trial Coordinators do not directly contact counsel to inform them that their matter is on the list to be called. Instead, the Trial Coordinator prepares a list of trials ready to be called, and this list is subsequently distributed to all law associations for posting on their respective websites. The responsibility lies with counsel to regularly check these lists and be prepared to start the trial when their turn comes. In cases of inquiries or special circumstances, counsel may reach out to local Trial Coordinators for further information.

Barrie, Bracebridge, Orillia	Barrie.SCJ.TC@ontario.ca
Newmarket	Newmarket.SCJ.TC@ontario.ca
Oshawa	Oshawa.SCJ.TC@ontario.ca
Peterborough, Lindsay, Cobourg	Peterborough.SCJ.TC@ontario.ca

Once a matter is on a trial list for the new Civil Blitz in September and January trial sittings, it is deemed ready for trial. Adjournments will only be granted in exceptional circumstances.

P. Construction Lien

Construction Lien Pre-trials will presumptively be held by video/zoom conference. Parties may request an in person pre-trial, and such determination will be made by a Triage Judge. Scheduling a pre-trial, must be done through Calendly at: Calendly – Central East Region Civil Pre-Trials

a) Purpose

The primary purpose of the pre-trial hearing and any subsequent pre-trial hearings is to settle the action or narrow any issues for trial and have the proceeding ready for trial. It is the intention to move these proceedings efficiently and in a summary fashion. Costs may be ordered at the discretion of the Judge, against parties who do not cooperate in moving these proceedings forward in a summary fashion or fail to comply with any order.

Once the pre-trial hearing judge deems the lien action ready for trial, the Judge will set for a trial sitting or the litigants may be directed to attend Triage Court.

b) Timetable Pre-trial Conference

A litigant may obtain timetable orders in two ways:

Per section 9 and 10 of Ont. Reg. 302/18, a settlement meeting may be ordered, and a statement of settlement filed with the Court and an order is granted.
Timetable Pre-trial Hearing will be held by designated judicial officers on designated days for any action in CE region requiring an initial pre-trial hearing. The hearing will be conducted via Zoom. The hearing will be scheduled in 30-minute increments throughout the day.

To schedule an initial timetable pre-trial hearing contact Newmarket.civilpretrial@ontario.ca.

The purpose of the initial timetable pre-trial hearing is to set a timetable where the parties have been unable to agree on a timetable; file a consent with a draft order establishing a timetable; or, file any other matter on consent, such as consolidating proceedings. Each party must file a proposed timetable. The judge hearing the pre-trial hearing is at liberty to choose one of the proposed timetables.

If the matter is on consent, one lawyer may appear as agent for all parties. Clients may, but are not expected, to attend.

Material that are required to be filed and uploaded to Case Centre (formerly CaseLines) include:

a one-page explanation of purpose of the hearing;
draft proposed orders, if there is no consent;
a title search conducted no more than three (3) days prior the timetable pre-trial hearing showing deleted instruments;
a list of all actions involved, including the title of proceeding(s), court file number(s), and the courthouse where the action was commenced.

Counsel requesting the timetable hearing must file an affidavit of service of the Notice of Trial indicating that all with an interest in the applicable land have been served, along with the Notice of Trial.

If the parties do not require an initial timetable pre-trial hearing, they may schedule a substantive pre-trial hearing.

c) First Substantive Pre-Trial Conference

The first substantive pre-trial is intended to result in substantive progress of the action(s). Counsel who will appear at trial and their clients must be attendance. Every effort will be made to discuss resolution of the proceeding at the first in person pre-trial.

By the first pre-trial, parties will have:

exchanged Affidavits of Documents together with a copy of each document referred to in Schedule “A” in the Affidavit of Documents;
canvassed dates for examinations, as well a date that all undertakings will be answered;
canvassed the date for a motion relating to refusals on examinations and any other contemplated motions;
completed and exchanged, if applicable, a “Scott” Schedule and any responding Schedule;
if not already filed, a title search which is no more than three (3) days’ old showing deleted instruments of all the lands subject to the lien(s). In the case of multiple lien claimants, a list of all lien claimants, name(s) of counsel, and particulars of the amount of the lien claim(s), and registration numbers must be prepared by the party who set the action down for trial;
a copy of the Notice for Trial and affidavit of service demonstrating that all parties with an interest in the lands have been served with the Notice for Trial;
written confirmation that the party setting the action down for trial has advised the Trial Coordinator of all actions, their respective title of proceedings, court file numbers, and Courthouse the action was commenced, to enforce their lien claims upon the lands and ensure all lien action files are available at the pre-trial;
a chart setting out all liens, registered and non-registered, against the lands which includes name of the lien claimant, registration particulars, court file numbers and name, address, phone number and email address of counsel, if any; and,
The parties will be required to detail their respective positions with supporting documentation through a pre-trial memorandum and serve and file same no later than seven (7) days before the pre-trial conference date, with a copy of the affidavit of service.
Exchange of any and all expert reports must be completed and litigants to advise the pre-trial conference judge if “hot tubbing” is appropriate.
The party that set the action down for trial shall take out an order incorporating the above-noted terms, unless the pre-trial judge indicates otherwise.
The litigants shall have a list of all experts and their availability for trial, list of all contemplated witnesses for trial, and provide a detailed estimate of the time required for trial.

d) Second or Subsequent Pre-Trial Conference(s)

All counsel who will appear at trial and their respective clients must attend the second (and, if necessary, any subsequent) pre-trial conference.

The pre-trial judge will discuss and assess the progress of the proceeding and will consider an appropriate award of costs for non-compliance with the any Conference Order.

At the second or subsequent pre-trial conference, the parties will be required to detail their respective positions with supporting documentation through a pre-trial memorandum and serve and file same no later than seven (7) days before the pre-trial conference date, with a copy of the affidavit of service.

The party that set the matter down for trial shall have the orders from the second pretrial and any subsequent pretrial incorporated into a formal order.

The primary purpose of the pre-trial and any subsequent pre-trial is to settle the action or narrow any issues for trial and have the proceeding ready for trial.

Once the pre-trial conference judge deems the lien action ready for trial, the Judge will set for a trial sitting or the litigants may be directed to attend Triage Court.

e) Liens under $200,000

Construction Liens under a $200,000, including any counterclaims, shall have no more than two pre-trials. It is incumbent upon the litigants to ensure that the lien action is managed expeditiously so the action, can be settled or tried in a summary fashion.

Dated: March 1, 2024, updated June 27, 2024

Mark L. Edwards

Regional Senior Justice

Superior Court of Justice

Central East Region