Barring civil juries in Rule 76 claims ‘makes sense,’ says Orlando

Recent changes to the Rules of Civil Procedure eliminating civil juries in actions under $200,000 will help streamline the litigation process and make it more affordable for plaintiffs, says Ontario personal injury lawyer Dale Orlando.

Rule 76, introduced in 1996, imposed a mandatory simplified process for actions that exceed the jurisdiction of small claims court. The new amendments — filed Oct. 23 and effective Jan. 1, 2020 — will raise the monetary limit to $200,000 and eliminate jury trials in those matters, except for cases involving slander, libel, malicious arrest or prosecution, and false imprisonment.

“Doing away with juries in simplified personal injury procedures makes sense,” says Orlando, a principal partner with McLeish Orlando LLP. “Jury trials place all sorts of restrictions on how you try your case. For example, with a judge-alone trial, you might have a two-week sitting, then adjourn for a month and return to finish with several more days of trial. You can’t do that with jury trials.”

He says the last jury trial he worked on should have been two weeks long, but it ended up lasting more than a month because of issues, including jurors getting sick and attending to pre-commitments.

‘Massively inconvenient’

“And, of course, jury trials are also massively inconvenient for those people who have to sit on the jury and give up weeks of their lives to adjudicate a claim for $100,000,” Dale adds.

In July, the Ministry of the Attorney General commenced a review of family and civil legislation, regulations, and processes to explore ways to simplify family and civil court processes, reduce costs and delays, and encourage the earlier resolution of disputes.

“Individuals, families, and businesses interact with the court processes every day and, more often than not, they face unnecessary delays and exorbitant legal costs to resolve their disputes,” said a ministry spokesperson.

In addition to changes to Rule 76, the province also announced an increase in the claim limit for small claims court to $35,000.

“Currently, all claims over $25,000 must proceed in the Superior Court of Justice — one of the busiest courts in Canada — where litigation can take years and can involve expensive legal representation,” said a ministry spokesperson.