Civil Litigation

The civil litigation lawyers in our law firm have extensive experience before all levels of courts, including appellate courts and many tribunals in representing clients of our office. Our primary goal is to resolve problems without resort to the courts. This of course is not an easy task unless the other side also seeks resolution. Our aim always is to obtain the best resolution we can for our clients while recognizing that there is a significant expense as well as significant effort on the part of both the client and the lawyers involved. Most of the time, the wheels of justice grind slowly so that it takes a considerable amount of time for a law suit to find its way to trial.

We recognize that most litigation is resolved through negotiation rather than through conducting a trial. To that end, we can offer alternative dispute resolution to our clients by way of mediation or arbitration with private mediators and private arbitrators.

The practice of litigation is highly specialized and requires an extensive knowledge of the Rules of Civil Procedure as well as knowledge of the applicable law - which of course requires research abilities. We are a full service firm with online research facilities and our litigation section has support staff readily available, including associate lawyers, law clerks and legal assistants, to enable us to provide services to our clients in both an expeditious and cost effective manner. The litigation section practices in the areas of commercial disputes, personal injury, professional negligence, land disputes, contractual disputes as well as any other area in which two or more people have differences. We are extremely proud of our rate of success at trial.

We are also particularly proud of our experienced and knowledgeable staff who maintain our files and ensure that they are properly organized in order to obtain an effective resolution. This is by no means an easy task given the volume of paper in most litigation these days.

Commercial Litigation

Our firm has extensive experience in acting in a wide variety of commercial disputes, including shareholder disagreements, real estate issues, product liability issues, improper competition and construction lien matters. These involve extensive preparation, negotiation and application of the Rules of Civil Procedure in order to effectively present our client's position. Once again, this area involves acting at all levels of court and includes appearances before the Ontario Municipal Board, Assessment Appeal Board in addition to other applicable tribunals.

Personal Injury and Professional Negligence

For many years our firm has represented clients in personal injury claims which include motor vehicle accidents, accident benefit issues with insurance companies, slip and fall cases and sexual assault cases. A growing portion of our practice involves long-term disability (LTD) disputes and Canada Pension Plan disability claims.

We have undertaken a number of professional negligence claims for malpractice against members of the medical profession, hospitals, other lawyers and professionals.

We have recognized long ago that such litigation is time consuming and expensive with the result that we have developed a flexible approach to assisting clients in undertaking such claims in order that we can ensure that there is proper access to justice.

The Conduct of A Law Suit

People who feel they have been wronged come to us to obtain an opinion as to whether the law of the land can assist in correcting that wrong. When that involves a law suit, the suit commences with the preparation of a Statement of Claim, a document we prepare and issue at the court office. Once served, the Defendant then prepares, serves and files a Statement of Defence in an effort to defend the claim. The plaintiff (the person who commenced the action) then has a right to reply to the defence. The pleadings are then complete. In the event the case makes it to trial, the judge reads only the Statement of Claim, the Statement of Defence and the Reply in order to understand the issues prior to the start of the trial.

Before the case reaches trial, the parties must exchange Affidavits of Documents in which they list all documents relevant to the matter. This can result in many volumes of documents, depending upon the complexity of the case.

The next step is to conduct Examinations for Discovery (unless the case is one involving less than $50,000.00, in which case there are no discoveries allowed). Examinations for Discovery are opportunities for each side to learn the facts upon which the other side is relying. The lawyers for each party question the other party. This is done before a court reporter, not before a judge, and is an opportunity for each party to identify the case of the other party. Each of the parties to the litigation can then be better advised as to the real issues for trial and as to the likely outcome at trial.

Once Examinations for Discovery are complete the matter is set down for trial, usually by the plaintiff's lawyers. There is then a "pre-trial" scheduled. A pre-trial is a meeting between the lawyers for the parties and an independent judge. The lawyers prepare a brief which is a summary of the facts in order to inform the judge of the matters at issue. The judge then gives his or her opinion as to the likely outcome. This is not in the form of a ruling but is a stimulation to settlement with the judicial opinion as a guide.

If the matter is not settled, then a trial date is scheduled. At that time the lawyers complete preparation of evidence, documents and the applicable law in order to be ready to effectively represent the client in a civil trial. Most civil trials are not conducted before a jury but are heard before a judge alone. There is an option for a jury of six persons in order to listen to the evidence and make the necessary findings to determine the outcome of the trial.

Summary

As can be seen, a law suit can take a long time and therefore involves a significant legal expense. That is why we make an effort to resolve the litigation as quickly and as expeditiously as we can while obtaining the best possible result for our client.