600 plain-language Q&As about litigation. Browse below, or search the whole library.
Absolute privilege provides complete protection from a defamation claim for statements made in specific, defined settings - most notably statements…
Read the full answer →As a general rule, Ontario breach-of-contract remedies aim to compensate your loss, not strip the defendant's gain. The traditional position is that…
Read the full answer →Being named an additional insured means you get coverage under someone else's insurance policy - typically added by endorsement - without being the…
Read the full answer →Adjudication is a fast, interim-binding dispute resolution process built into the Construction Act specifically for construction payment disputes,…
Read the full answer →Hearsay is an out-of-court statement — something someone said or wrote outside the courtroom — that is offered in court as proof that what was said is…
Read the full answer →An adverse inference is a conclusion that a court is permitted to draw against a party who fails to produce evidence that they could reasonably be…
Read the full answer →An affidavit of service is a sworn statement from the person who delivered legal documents, confirming who was served, what documents were served, when…
Read the full answer →An affidavit is a written, sworn statement of facts made under oath or affirmation before a commissioner for taking oaths, a notary public, or another…
Read the full answer →Yes. Ontario law generally allows an employer to rely on serious misconduct discovered after the dismissal already happened, even if that was not the…
Read the full answer →Anti-SLAPP motions carry distinctive costs consequences compared to ordinary litigation, reflecting the legislature's intent to discourage lawsuits…
Read the full answer →Yes. Ontario has a specific anti-SLAPP mechanism built into the Courts of Justice Act that allows a defendant to bring an early motion asking a court…
Read the full answer →On an anti-SLAPP motion, the judge applies a two-stage test. First, the defendant must show the lawsuit arises from an expression they made on a matter…
Read the full answer →An Anton Piller order is an extraordinary, common law-based court order allowing a plaintiff, accompanied by an independent supervising lawyer, to…
Read the full answer →The Courts of Justice Act sets out Ontario's court structure and generally determines which appeals go where, and the answer usually depends on the…
Read the full answer →Yes, Ontario civil court decisions can generally be appealed, but there are rules about where you appeal to and strict deadlines. Appeals from Small…
Read the full answer →Often, yes, but not universally, so it's worth confirming rather than assuming. Launching an appeal to the Court of Appeal for Ontario generally puts…
Read the full answer →If your contract contains an arbitration clause, disputes covered by it are generally resolved through private arbitration rather than the courts.…
Read the full answer →If a contract contains a mandatory arbitration clause, Ontario courts will generally give effect to it. Under the Arbitration Act, 1991 (for domestic…
Read the full answer →A denied claim, on its own, just means the insurer decided your loss isn't covered - and if that decision is wrong, your remedy is a straightforward…
Read the full answer →In Ontario, the basic limitation period for most civil claims is two years from the date you discovered (or reasonably should have discovered) that you…
Read the full answer →Generally, yes. During the notice period, whether it is actually worked or paid in lieu, an employer is typically expected to maintain your benefits,…
Read the full answer →A confidentiality clause (or non-disclosure provision in a broader commercial contract) is enforceable in Ontario and its breach entitles the injured…
Read the full answer →If a contractor fails to complete work, does it deficiently, or abandons a project in Ontario, you may have several legal tools available. A claim for…
Read the full answer →Yes. If your employer has breached the written or implied terms of your employment contract, you may have a civil claim for breach of contract. The…
Read the full answer →Franchise agreements in Ontario are governed both by the contract itself and by the Arthur Wishart Act (Franchise Disclosure), 2000, which imposes…
Read the full answer →An indemnity clause requires one party (the indemnifier) to compensate the other (the indemnitee) for specified losses, claims, or costs — including…
Read the full answer →A breach of a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is a breach of contract, and the same remedies available for other contract breaches apply. In Ontario,…
Read the full answer →Ontario law recognizes a duty of honest performance in contracts. The Supreme Court of Canada established in Bhasin v Hrynew that parties must not lie…
Read the full answer →In Ontario civil litigation, the standard of proof is the balance of probabilities — you must show that it is more likely than not that your version of…
Read the full answer →An Agreement of Purchase and Sale (APS) for Ontario real property is a binding contract. If one party refuses to close without a valid legal reason,…
Read the full answer →If a service provider — a renovation contractor, IT consultant, event planner, or any other — fails to deliver what their contract promised, you have…
Read the full answer →A settlement agreement is itself a contract, and if one party fails to honour it, the other party can sue to enforce it as a breach of contract. In…
Read the full answer →Software development contracts give rise to frequent disputes in Ontario, often because scope, deliverables, and acceptance criteria were poorly…
Read the full answer →In Ontario civil litigation, the general rule is that the party making a claim bears the burden of proving it. This means the plaintiff — the person…
Read the full answer →Yes, a denied business interruption claim can be pursued as a breach of contract claim like any other coverage dispute, but these claims have some…
Read the full answer →The "but for" test is how Ontario courts usually decide whether a defendant's careless conduct actually caused your injury, as opposed to merely…
Read the full answer →Yes, in Ontario a settlement offer can generally be withdrawn at any time before it is accepted, unless the offer states that it is open for acceptance…
Read the full answer →Yes, corporations can both sue and be sued in Ontario Small Claims Court, as long as the claim does not exceed the $50,000 monetary limit. A…
Read the full answer →A creditor cannot freeze or garnish your bank account simply by asking your bank. They must first obtain a court judgment against you. Once they have a…
Read the full answer →In Ontario, most debts are governed by the Limitations Act, 2002. The basic limitation period is two years from the day you knew — or ought to have…
Read the full answer →In Ontario, you do not personally inherit a deceased parent's debts simply by being their child or heir. A person's debts are obligations of their…
Read the full answer →Ontario's Collection and Debt Settlement Services Act places strict limits on when a collector may contact third parties. In general, a collector can…
Read the full answer →Ontario law provides remedies when a debtor transfers assets to prevent creditors from collecting on a judgment. The primary tool is the Fraudulent…
Read the full answer →Yes. Government creditors — particularly the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) — have enforcement tools that private creditors do not. The CRA, for example,…
Read the full answer →Yes, parties in Ontario can amend their pleadings, but the rules become stricter the further along the litigation has progressed. Early in the…
Read the full answer →Yes, a Small Claims Court decision can be appealed, but the right to appeal is limited. An appeal lies to the Divisional Court (a branch of the…
Read the full answer →In Ontario, you are not legally required to have a lawyer attend mediation with you, but it is strongly advisable, especially in cases involving…
Read the full answer →Incorporating a business creates a separate legal entity. In general, a creditor of a corporation can only pursue the corporation for its debts — not…
Read the full answer →Ontario courts can award costs — a contribution toward legal fees and disbursements — to the successful party in most civil proceedings. However, a…
Read the full answer →In Small Claims Court, the rules on recovering legal costs are more limited than in the Superior Court. If you win, the court may award you a…
Read the full answer →Yes, Ontario courts have the authority to award interest on money judgments even when the underlying agreement did not specify an interest rate. The…
Read the full answer →Yes, but you need to take additional legal steps. You cannot simply use your Ontario judgment's writ in British Columbia, Alberta, or another province…
Read the full answer →Yes. Ontario has legislation — the Reciprocal Enforcement of Judgments Act — that allows judgments from designated reciprocating provinces and…
Read the full answer →Garnishing income from a self-employed person is more challenging than garnishing wages from an employer, but it is not impossible. For a traditionally…
Read the full answer →No. In Ontario and across Canada, you cannot be imprisoned simply for failing to pay a civil debt. The era of debtors' prisons ended long ago, and…
Read the full answer →Recovering the cost of a demand letter depends on whether your dispute ends up in court and whether the court includes that expense in its costs award.…
Read the full answer →Yes, but the process depends on how your claim and judgment are structured. A guarantor who signs a personal guarantee agrees to be liable for the debt…
Read the full answer →Yes. Ontario Small Claims Court is designed to be accessible to people without legal training, and self-represented litigants are common. The court's…
Read the full answer →Claims for emotional distress or mental suffering are among the harder cases to bring in Small Claims Court. Unlike claims for a broken item or an…
Read the full answer →A contract may include a "forum selection clause" specifying that any dispute must be resolved in the courts of a particular province. If the clause…
Read the full answer →Yes. A judgment creditor in Ontario can file a writ of seizure and sale with the sheriff's office in the county where you own real property. Once…
Read the full answer →Yes, a former landlord can sue you for unpaid rent in Ontario, but the appropriate forum depends on the amount and circumstances. For most residential…
Read the full answer →Ontario's Limitations Act allows parties to vary the standard limitation period in some circumstances, but with important restrictions. Since 2016,…
Read the full answer →Some Ontario lawsuits, particularly complex, high-conflict, or long-running ones, are assigned a case management judge who oversees the file from an…
Read the full answer →You need to show, on a balance of probabilities, that but for the negligent advice, you would not have suffered the loss - meaning you have to prove…
Read the full answer →Both are written notices delivered before or instead of litigation, but they seek different things. A demand letter typically asks the other party to…
Read the full answer →A certificate of substantial performance is a formal document, issued under the Construction Act once a contract is substantially - though not…
Read the full answer →Commercial general liability (CGL) insurance covers a business against third-party claims for bodily injury or property damage arising out of its…
Read the full answer →Often yes, in substance, even though Ontario does not use a separate, formally named "attractive nuisance" doctrine the way some other jurisdictions…
Read the full answer →Under Ontario's Class Proceedings Act, 1992, a proposed class action generally can't proceed as a class proceeding until a court certifies it, which…
Read the full answer →Class actions are available in Ontario under the Class Proceedings Act, 1992 and can include claims for breach of contract where the same contractual…
Read the full answer →A class action is a lawsuit where one or more representative plaintiffs sue on behalf of a larger group of people who have suffered the same or similar…
Read the full answer →Under Ontario's Class Proceedings Act, 1992, a class action settlement generally requires court approval before it becomes binding, because most class…
Read the full answer →Yes. The Occupiers' Liability Act defines an occupier based on actual control over premises, not on legal ownership, so a commercial tenant running a…
Read the full answer →Generally, yes. Wrongful dismissal damages are meant to put you in roughly the same financial position you would have been in had you worked through…
Read the full answer →Yes. If you continue working for too long after a significant unilateral change without objecting, a court can find that you accepted, or condoned, the…
Read the full answer →No, settlement agreements are not automatically confidential in Ontario. Unless the parties expressly include a confidentiality or non-disclosure…
Read the full answer →Under the Construction Act, a lien must generally be preserved - meaning registered against the property's title, or otherwise preserved as the Act…
Read the full answer →A construction lien is a security interest that the Construction Act gives to contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers who provide services or…
Read the full answer →The Construction Act creates statutory trusts over money received in connection with a construction project - for example, funds an owner pays to a…
Read the full answer →Yes. A restructuring can amount to constructive dismissal if it results in a significant unilateral change to an essential term of an employee's role -…
Read the full answer →Yes. A genuinely toxic or hostile work environment can amount to constructive dismissal if the conduct is serious enough that it breaches the…
Read the full answer →A significant unilateral change to a fundamental term of your employment - a substantial pay cut, a demotion, drastically reduced responsibilities, or…
Read the full answer →An unopposed motion is one where the other side either agrees with the relief being requested, or simply doesn't respond or object to it, so there's no…
Read the full answer →Yes, contingency fee agreements are permitted in Ontario for most civil litigation matters. Under a contingency fee arrangement, the lawyer agrees to…
Read the full answer →When contract language is ambiguous, Ontario courts apply well-established principles to determine its meaning. The primary goal is to give effect to…
Read the full answer →Yes. The Negligence Act allows a defendant who ends up paying a judgment, or more than their fair share of it, to seek contribution and indemnity from…
Read the full answer →Contributory negligence means you did something that fell below the standard of a reasonably careful person and that contributed to your own injury -…
Read the full answer →Deadlock typically arises in a corporation with two equal shareholders, or evenly split voting blocks, where neither side can get enough votes to pass…
Read the full answer →Generally, no — unlike an individual, a corporation is normally required to be represented by a lawyer in Ontario's Superior Court civil process,…
Read the full answer →A claim for the cost of future care is built around the specific ongoing needs your injury actually created, rather than a general estimate. It…
Read the full answer →The cost of litigating a contract dispute in Ontario varies widely depending on the amount at issue, the court, and how far the matter proceeds. In…
Read the full answer →The cost of a civil lawsuit in Ontario depends on the court, the complexity of the case, and whether you hire a lawyer. There are two main layers:…
Read the full answer →Yes. In Ontario civil litigation, a defendant who has been sued for breach of contract can file a counterclaim against the plaintiff in the same…
Read the full answer →Yes, in Ontario civil proceedings, a defendant who has been sued can bring a counterclaim against the plaintiff. A counterclaim is a claim made by the…
Read the full answer →When multiple creditors have filed writs of seizure and sale against the same debtor and there are insufficient assets to satisfy everyone, Ontario's…
Read the full answer →Yes, a creditor or collection agency can report a debt to a credit bureau even while the debt is disputed. Equifax and TransUnion are private…
Read the full answer →Cross-examination is the questioning of a witness by the party who did not call them. At an Ontario civil trial, once a witness gives their evidence in…
Read the full answer →Both rules deal with a plaintiff who had a pre-existing vulnerability, but they lead to very different results. The thin skull rule requires a…
Read the full answer →When a contract is breached in Ontario, the primary remedy is compensatory damages — money designed to put you in the position you would have been in…
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