Divisional Court (Notices)

Landlord & Tenant Board Appeals (Notices)

• Notice to Profession for Appeals from the Landlord and Tenant Board in the Divisional Court (Effective August 24, 2020)

Delivery of Notice of Appeal

Pursuant to R.63.01(3) of the Rules of Civil Procedure, “delivery of a notice of appeal” from an order under the RTA stays, until the disposition of the appeal, any provision of the order (a) declaring a tenancy agreement terminated or evicting a person, or (b) terminating a member’s occupancy of a member unit in a non-profit housing cooperative or evicting the member.

A notice of appeal may be “delivered” within the meaning of R.63.01(3) by service of the notice of appeal and the appellant’s certificate respecting evidence on the Landlord and Tenant Board and on the landlord(s), and either:

• Transmission of the notice of appeal and the appellant’s certificate respecting evidence and proof of service to the Divisional Court by email to the following address:

scj-csj.divcourtmail@ontario.ca

• Filing the notice of appeal together with proof of service of the notice of appeal with the Divisional Court at any Superior Court of Justice office in Ontario. A notice of appeal may be in Form 61A.1 of the Rules of Civil Procedure (copy attached as Schedule “A” to this Notice to Profession) and an appellant’s certificate respecting evidence may be in Form 61C of the Rules of Civil Procedure (copy attached as Schedule “B” to this Notice to Profession).

Notice to Profession – Divisional Court (June 29, 2020)

D.1. Provincewide Protocol applies to all Divisional Court matters Set out below is the practice to be observed to schedule a matter in Divisional Court anywhere in Ontario.

Please note that this direction applies to all matters in Divisional Court. The court’s schedule of cases as of the suspension of ordinary court operations is, itself, entirely suspended until September 4, 2020, and matters will not be heard according to that schedule. Only matters scheduled in accordance with this Direction will be heard. Therefore, a party in a matter that has been scheduled previously for hearing up to September 4, 2020 will have to obtain a new date for hearing following the process set out below, if the party wishes the case to proceed during the suspension of in-person hearings.

For cases that were scheduled prior to the suspension of normal court operations to dates after September 4, 2020, hearings will be proceed on the scheduled dates. The Divisional Court will provide further directions at a later date as to whether these matters will proceed in person or remotely, and whether documents are to be filed electronically in accordance with this Notice to the Profession.

All previously scheduled in-person matters that are now cancelled may be rescheduled for hearing by videoconference or other means directed by the court pursuant to this Notice to the Profession.

Any previously scheduled in-person matters that are now cancelled, and which are not rescheduled for hearing by videoconference, will not be scheduled for in-person hearings until further Notice to the Profession, and will be scheduled thereafter in accordance with a scheduling protocol that will be provided by way of Notice to the Profession at a future date.

D.3. Filing Electronic Documents for Hearings Any matters heard by the court pending resumption of in-person hearings will be heard remotely, and therefore all documents required for the hearing must be available to the court electronically. The requirement of electronic documents applies to all matters, including cases where parties filed paper documents prior to the suspension of ordinary court operations. Divisional Court staff will provide directions to the parties about what will be required and, if necessary, a teleconference may be arranged with one of the Administrative Judges or designate for directions respecting what materials are required and how they are to be filed. In general, the following guidelines will apply:

Where possible, all documents should be uploaded by the parties to a drop box with a link and instructions on how to access the documents delivered to the court by email at the following address: scj-csj.divcourtmail@ontario.ca. The uploaded documents are to be provided as follows: All documents other than factums are to be uploaded to a drop box in pdf format.

Documents should be labelled in a manner that identifies them clearly for the panel so that it is not necessary to open the document to understand what it is. Pages should be numbered sequentially within each pdf. If this is not practical, given the current state of the documents, then individual documents should be uploaded to a drop box in pdf form, so that each document is clearly labelled, enabling the panel to find document quickly. Factums are to be filed in Word and pdf version. Where possible, the factums should contain hyperlinks for authorities and, if possible, hyperlinks to a “Factum Compendium”, described below. Factums can be unsigned.

Books of authorities containing the full text of authorities should not be uploaded to the drop box. However, citations to cases in the factums are to provide, if possible, a hyperlink to the CanLII version of cases. The only exceptions to this principle are authorities not available on CanLII, such as excerpts from textbooks, foreign law, or Canadian decisions not reported on CanLII: these should be collected in a small brief of unreported authorities and filed electronically. Parties are encouraged to file a “Factum Compendium” containing single pages or brief portions of cases cited, and brief portions of evidence from the record referenced in the factum, hyperlinked in the factum.

Parties are also encouraged to file a compendium for oral argument in advance of the hearing, containing excerpts of evidence and authorities to which counsel will refer in oral argument. Where portions of cases are included in a compendium, the title of proceedings and headnote should be included as well. Where portions of the record are included in a compendium, the first page of the document and identification of where it may be found in the record should also be provided. In cases involving documents protected by, or which are sought to be protected by, a protective order (such as a sealing order or a publication ban), counsel should seek tailored directions during a case management conference. Where it is not possible for parties to file documents through a drop box, documents are to be delivered to the Court as attachments by email at the following address: scj-csj.divcourtmail@ontario.ca. No individual email can be larger than 35 MB. Specific directions on how documents are to be filed by email will be provided by the Court before they are to be filed. At least one day before the hearing, the parties are to file a counsel sheet setting out the name(s) of counsel and the estimated time for counsel’s submissions. At least one day before the hearing, the parties are to advise that they have reached agreement on costs or are to file costs outlines by email with the Court. After the end of the suspension of ordinary court operations, parties will be required to file paper copies of documents provided to the court electronically pursuant to this Direction, and to pay any applicable court fees for steps that have taken place pursuant to this Direction.