600 plain-language Q&As about litigation. Browse below, or search the whole library.
If the other side fails to honour a settlement they agreed to in Ontario, you have several options. The most straightforward depends on how the…
Read the full answer →Ontario follows a "loser pays" approach to costs, meaning the party that loses a case typically must pay a portion of the winning party's legal costs.…
Read the full answer →A civil trial in Ontario's Superior Court follows a structured procedure. Most civil trials are heard by a single judge without a jury (jury trials are…
Read the full answer →A writ of seizure and sale is a court document that a successful judgment creditor can file with the sheriff's office in the county or district where…
Read the full answer →Proper service is a critical step in Small Claims Court. The plaintiff must deliver the issued Plaintiff's Claim to every defendant within the time set…
Read the full answer →Wage garnishment in Ontario is a post-judgment remedy. After a creditor wins or obtains a judgment in court, they can ask the court to issue a Notice…
Read the full answer →Enforcing a judgment against a partnership in Ontario involves both the partnership as an entity and, in most cases, the individual partners…
Read the full answer →The timeline of a civil lawsuit in Ontario varies widely depending on the complexity of the case, the court's backlog, and whether the parties settle.…
Read the full answer →Timeline varies significantly depending on the amount of the debt, which court is involved, and whether the case is contested. In Small Claims Court —…
Read the full answer →The time it takes to collect after obtaining a judgment depends almost entirely on the debtor's financial circumstances and asset profile. There is no…
Read the full answer →The duration of a civil lawsuit in Ontario varies enormously depending on the court, the complexity of the dispute, and whether the case settles. There…
Read the full answer →The duration of an Ontario civil lawsuit in the Superior Court of Justice varies widely depending on complexity, the parties' conduct, court…
Read the full answer →The timeline for a Small Claims Court case in Ontario varies considerably depending on the court location, how complex the dispute is, and whether the…
Read the full answer →In Ontario, a court judgment is generally valid as a basis for enforcement for twenty years. However, the practical interaction with the limitation…
Read the full answer →Winning a Small Claims Court judgment is only the first step — you then need to take enforcement action to actually collect the money, because the…
Read the full answer →Winning a Small Claims Court judgment gives you the legal right to be paid, but actually collecting the money is a separate process called enforcement.…
Read the full answer →After obtaining a judgment in Ontario — either from Small Claims Court or the Superior Court — you can issue a Notice of Garnishment directed to the…
Read the full answer →To start a Small Claims Court case in Ontario, you complete a Plaintiff's Claim (Form 7A), which asks you to identify the parties, describe what…
Read the full answer →The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario operates under the Human Rights Code, which sets a filing deadline considerably shorter than Ontario's general…
Read the full answer →If an application succeeds, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, acting under the Human Rights Code, can generally order a range of remedies aimed at…
Read the full answer →For a claim based specifically on discrimination under the Human Rights Code, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario is generally the dedicated forum…
Read the full answer →Ontario courts recognize that contracts sometimes carry terms that the parties never expressly wrote down. Implied terms can arise in several ways.…
Read the full answer →Yes — if a default judgment was obtained against a defendant who was never properly served, that's a strong basis for asking the court to set the…
Read the full answer →Yes, in situations where a genuine conflict exists between your interests and your insurer's. This typically arises when the insurer is defending you…
Read the full answer →Breaching a court injunction in Ontario is treated as contempt of court, a serious matter separate from the underlying lawsuit itself, since it…
Read the full answer →Irreparable harm means harm that money damages couldn't adequately fix later if you had to wait until trial to get a remedy - not simply harm that's…
Read the full answer →An injunction is a court order directing a party to do something or, more commonly, to stop doing something. In Ontario, injunctions are granted by the…
Read the full answer →Yes. An injunction is a court order directing a party to do something or — more commonly in contract disputes — to stop doing something that breaches a…
Read the full answer →Injurious falsehood and defamation are related but distinct claims. Defamation protects your reputation - it addresses a false statement that damages…
Read the full answer →Even though your insurer selects the lawyer, pays their fees, and often directs the overall defence strategy, the lawyer's professional duty of loyalty…
Read the full answer →Yes, insurers can and do deny claims on the basis that the damage, defect, or condition being claimed actually existed, or began, before the policy…
Read the full answer →It depends heavily on what the insurer actually said, and reserved the right to do, at the time it agreed to defend you. Simply providing a defence…
Read the full answer →Usually, yes, within limits set by your specific policy. When an insurer accepts a claim without reservation and takes over your defence, most…
Read the full answer →Yes — Ontario courts can grant interim orders designed simply to hold things in place while a lawsuit works its way through the system, rather than…
Read the full answer →An order for the preservation of property is interim relief available under Ontario's Rules of Civil Procedure, allowing a court to order that specific…
Read the full answer →Ontario courts generally assess a request for an interlocutory (temporary, pre-trial) injunction using a three-part framework developed through the…
Read the full answer →Yes, mediation in Ontario is confidential, and what is said during a mediation session generally cannot be used as evidence in any subsequent court…
Read the full answer →Under the Negligence Act, when two or more parties are each found at fault for causing your injury, they are jointly and severally liable to you, which…
Read the full answer →A judgment against an insolvent or asset-stripped corporation can be very difficult to collect. If the company has genuinely dissolved or disposed of…
Read the full answer →In Ontario, judicial review applications are generally heard by the Divisional Court, under the framework set out in the Judicial Review Procedure Act,…
Read the full answer →An appeal challenges a decision on its substance, generally arguing the decision-maker got the facts or the law wrong, and is only available where a…
Read the full answer →Yes. A landlord who controls common areas, or who is responsible for maintaining the structure and systems of a rental property, can be liable under…
Read the full answer →Not automatically. Most policies require prompt notice of a loss or occurrence, and late notice can be a real problem, but Ontario law generally looks…
Read the full answer →The Law Society of Ontario operates a referral service that connects members of the public with a lawyer or licensed paralegal for an initial…
Read the full answer →Yes, for some kinds of decisions. While many final orders from an Ontario Superior Court trial can generally be appealed as of right, meaning without…
Read the full answer →Legal Aid Ontario provides publicly funded legal assistance, but its civil litigation coverage is limited. Most civil legal aid funding in Ontario is…
Read the full answer →Whether a letter of intent (LOI) or heads of agreement is legally binding in Ontario depends on its contents and the intentions of the parties as…
Read the full answer →Yes. A landlord responsible for maintaining a rental property's structural elements can be liable under the Occupiers' Liability Act for an injury…
Read the full answer →Responsibility for a poorly maintained or icy parking lot generally falls on whoever controls and maintains that lot under the Occupiers' Liability…
Read the full answer →Liability for an injured visitor at a construction site can potentially fall on several different parties, depending on the facts - the site owner, the…
Read the full answer →Yes. A neighbour, like any other occupier, owes visitors to their property a duty under the Occupiers' Liability Act to take reasonable care to keep…
Read the full answer →Yes. Both a landlord and a separate property management company can potentially be named in the same claim if a tenant is injured, since both may…
Read the full answer →Liability for an injury in a mall's common area - hallways, food courts, or shared parking areas - usually falls on whoever controls and is responsible…
Read the full answer →Yes. An owner of a vacant or unoccupied property does not escape occupier responsibilities simply because no one is actively using the space; the…
Read the full answer →Yes. A homeowner can be sued under the Occupiers' Liability Act if someone is injured in their backyard pool and the homeowner failed to take…
Read the full answer →A warning sign can genuinely help, but it is not an automatic, guaranteed shield from liability. The Occupiers' Liability Act allows an occupier to…
Read the full answer →Libel refers to defamation in a permanent or recorded form - written words, published images, broadcast content, or anything else that exists in a…
Read the full answer →Yes, but where the lien attaches depends on who the contractor actually did the work for. A contractor hired directly by a unit owner to renovate or…
Read the full answer →Yes. Instead of paying cash into court, an owner facing a registered construction lien can typically post security - commonly a lien bond from a…
Read the full answer →Yes. Construction lien rights under the Construction Act don't depend on having a direct contract with the property owner - a subcontractor who…
Read the full answer →It depends heavily on timing and the specific type of mortgage advance involved, and this is one of the more technical areas of Ontario construction…
Read the full answer →Yes. Limitation of liability clauses — which cap the damages recoverable for a breach or exclude liability for certain types of loss — are common in…
Read the full answer →Ontario's Limitations Act, 2002 recognizes that a claimant who is legally incapable of managing their own affairs may not be in a position to bring or…
Read the full answer →Generally, no — assigning a claim to someone else, meaning transferring the legal right to pursue it, doesn't reset or restart the limitation clock…
Read the full answer →Where a breach or wrong is ongoing, rather than a single, completed event, Ontario's limitation analysis can treat each fresh instance of the…
Read the full answer →In Ontario, the standard limitation period for a breach of contract claim is two years from the date of discovery under the Limitations Act, 2002.…
Read the full answer →Yes — a contract can contain its own notice requirement, obligating a party to formally notify the other side of a problem or claim within a specific…
Read the full answer →Generally, no — a corporate buyout, merger, or amalgamation doesn't restart the limitation clock for claims that already existed against the original…
Read the full answer →Not necessarily. A counterclaim, where a defendant being sued brings their own separate claim back against the plaintiff, generally has its own…
Read the full answer →Not automatically, and this is a common misunderstanding. A defendant being outside Ontario, or genuinely hard to locate and serve, doesn't itself…
Read the full answer →For a loan that's repayable on demand, meaning the lender can ask for repayment at any time rather than on a fixed schedule, Ontario's limitation…
Read the full answer →Deliberate fraud or concealment doesn't so much "pause" the limitation clock as delay when it starts in the first place, through Ontario's…
Read the full answer →For a contract involving payments or obligations due in instalments, Ontario's discoverability analysis under the Limitations Act, 2002 is generally…
Read the full answer →For a hidden, or latent, defect that isn't obvious at the time something is built, sold, or delivered, Ontario's discoverability rule under the…
Read the full answer →In Ontario, the two-year limitation period under the Limitations Act, 2002 does not run against a person who is under 18 years old, provided they do…
Read the full answer →Yes — because Ontario's discoverability rule under the Limitations Act, 2002 asks when a claimant knew, or reasonably should have known, that a…
Read the full answer →In Ontario, the Limitations Act, 2002 sets out the rules for how long you have to start a civil lawsuit. The general limitation period is two years…
Read the full answer →The standard limitation period for personal injury claims in Ontario is two years from the date of discovery under the Limitations Act, 2002. For most…
Read the full answer →Not necessarily. A third party claim, where a defendant being sued brings their own separate claim against someone else, arguing that person should…
Read the full answer →In Ontario, both tort claims (such as negligence, nuisance, or defamation) and contract claims are generally subject to the same two-year basic…
Read the full answer →Ontario's discoverability rule under the Limitations Act, 2002 generally means the two-year limitation clock doesn't start running until a claimant…
Read the full answer →Third-party litigation funding has become increasingly accepted in Canada, including Ontario, particularly for high-value commercial disputes. Under…
Read the full answer →Ontario's Superior Court generally sorts motions into "short" and "long" categories based on how much hearing time they're expected to need, and this…
Read the full answer →Loss of income compensates you for wages you actually lost, or will lose, because you were unable to work - a fairly direct calculation based on your…
Read the full answer →Yes. Ontario courts recognize that the ability to do housework, yard work, and other domestic tasks has real economic value, even though it was unpaid…
Read the full answer →Yes, but only in a limited way. The Landlord and Tenant Board operates under the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, and a decision it makes can generally…
Read the full answer →An eviction order from the Landlord and Tenant Board, made under the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, doesn't let a landlord physically remove a tenant…
Read the full answer →Yes — a lack of proper notice of an LTB hearing is generally one of the strongest grounds for asking the Board to review and set aside its own order…
Read the full answer →A request to review asks the Landlord and Tenant Board itself, generally a different adjudicator, to reconsider its own earlier decision, typically on…
Read the full answer →A prohibitory injunction orders someone to stop doing something - stop building past a property line, stop using confidential information, stop…
Read the full answer →Yes, and in practice this is the norm rather than the exception for Mareva injunctions - the whole point of an asset freeze is often defeated if the…
Read the full answer →When you apply for a Mareva injunction without notice to the other side, you take on a strict duty of full and frank disclosure - meaning you must tell…
Read the full answer →A Mareva injunction is an extraordinary court order, developed through the common law and available under the court's general injunction powers,…
Read the full answer →An undertaking as to damages is a formal promise you make to the court, as a condition of getting a Mareva injunction or most other interlocutory…
Read the full answer →Yes, in appropriate cases an Ontario court can grant a Mareva injunction with worldwide scope, extending beyond assets located in Ontario or even…
Read the full answer →A material adverse change (MAC) clause — sometimes called a material adverse effect (MAE) clause — appears in many commercial contracts, particularly…
Read the full answer →Yes — Ontario courts generally allow a self-represented litigant to have a support person, sometimes called a McKenzie friend, sit with them in the…
Read the full answer →Under Rule 24.1 of the Rules of Civil Procedure, mandatory mediation in Ontario must take place within 180 days after the first defence is filed in a…
Read the full answer →In some Ontario civil cases, mediation is mandatory before proceeding to trial. Under Ontario's civil procedure rules, mandatory mediation applies to…
Read the full answer →In Ontario, mandatory mediation applies to most civil actions (including contract disputes) commenced in Toronto, Ottawa, and Windsor. Under the…
Read the full answer →Links go to the official consolidated text. Legislation changes — confirm you are reading the current version.
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