Close of Pleadings in Ontario: What Happens Once Everyone Has Filed

Every Ontario civil lawsuit moves through a documented back-and-forth before anyone sees a courtroom: a Statement of Claim, a Statement of Defence, and sometimes a Reply. Once that document exchange is finished, the case reaches a procedural milestone lawyers call close of pleadings — and it changes what each side can and can't do next.

If you're involved in a lawsuit and keep hearing this phrase, it helps to understand exactly what it means, when it happens, and why it matters procedurally.

What Counts as a "Pleading"

In Ontario's Superior Court of Justice, pleadings are the formal documents that set out each side's version of events and legal position. The core pleadings, governed by Rules 25 to 29 of Ontario's Rules of Civil Procedure, include:

• The Statement of Claim — the plaintiff's opening document
• The Statement of Defence — the defendant's response
• A Reply, if the plaintiff wants to respond to new allegations raised in the defence
• A Counterclaim, Crossclaim, or Third Party Claim, where one party brings its own claim into the same proceeding, along with the corresponding defence to each

Not every case has all of these — many are just a claim and a defence.

The Path to Close of Pleadings

1. The Statement of Claim is issued and served. The clock starts running for the defendant to respond.
2. The Statement of Defence is filed, generally within the applicable deadline after service.
3. Any counterclaim, crossclaim, or third-party claim is met with its own defence.
4. A Reply is filed, if needed, to address new issues raised in the defence.
5. Once the time to deliver every pleading a party is entitled to file has passed, or the documents have actually been exchanged, pleadings are considered closed.

If a defendant never files a defence at all, pleadings don't formally "close" in the usual sense — instead, the plaintiff can generally move to note the defendant in default and pursue a default judgment instead.

What Close of Pleadings Triggers

Once pleadings close, several things typically become available that weren't before:

• Setting the action down for trial, or moving the case toward its next procedural stage, becomes possible once the issues between the parties are fully defined.
• Examinations for discovery can generally proceed in earnest, since each side now knows the full scope of what's being alleged and denied.
• Timelines for the next steps under the applicable procedure — ordinary Superior Court process, Simplified Procedure, or Small Claims Court — start to run from a clearer, fixed point.
• In cases eligible for mandatory mediation, currently limited to actions in Toronto, Ottawa, and Windsor (Essex County), close of pleadings is generally the trigger that starts the mediation timeline.

In short: close of pleadings is the line between figuring out what a case is actually about and actively preparing it for resolution.

Why the Timing Matters

Knowing when pleadings close matters because:

• It affects when you can reasonably expect the next procedural step, such as mediation or discovery, to start.
• If a matter sits without anyone taking a step for a long period after pleadings close, the court can eventually treat it as inactive and take administrative action — so ongoing activity matters.
• It gives both sides a natural checkpoint to reassess settlement, since the full picture of claims and defences is now on the record.

Frequently asked questions