What Happens at a Civil Trial in Ontario: A Courtroom Guide

By the time a civil lawsuit in Ontario reaches trial, the parties have typically spent months — sometimes years — working through pleadings, discovery, mediation, and a pre-trial conference. Trial is where it all comes to a head. A judge (and occasionally a jury) hears the evidence, weighs the credibility of witnesses, applies the law, and decides who wins.

This guide explains what a civil trial in Ontario looks like from start to finish, in plain language: how evidence is presented, how witnesses are examined, what lawyers argue, and what happens after the judge decides.

Who Hears a Civil Trial in Ontario?

Most Ontario civil trials are heard by a judge sitting alone — no jury. Juries in civil cases are available but are relatively rare; they are more common in defamation and certain other tort cases where a party specifically requests one. For the purposes of this article, we focus on the more common judge-alone trial.

The trial judge is assigned to the case for the duration. Unlike the pre-trial judge (who may have given frank settlement assessments), the trial judge comes in without prior knowledge of the parties' positions beyond the filed record.

Before the Trial Starts: Trial Records and Exhibits

Before the hearing begins, counsel exchange and agree on a trial record (the formal court record, containing pleadings, orders, and other procedural documents) and typically a joint exhibit brief — a binder of agreed documentary exhibits that will be entered into evidence without objection. This reduces time spent at trial authenticating documents.

Documents not in the joint brief can still be introduced during a witness's examination, but they require more procedure to admit.

Opening Statements

Trial usually begins with opening statements. Each side's lawyer briefly outlines:

• What the case is about
• What evidence the judge will hear
• What conclusion they are asking the judge to reach

Opening statements are a roadmap, not evidence. They help the judge understand the structure of what is coming. In Ontario civil practice, openings are often relatively brief — judges are experienced and do not need lengthy orientation.

Plaintiff's Case: Examination-in-Chief

The plaintiff (or the applicant, in an application) presents their case first. The plaintiff's lawyer calls witnesses one at a time and conducts an examination-in-chief (also called direct examination) — asking open-ended questions to bring out the witness's evidence.

Witnesses may include:

• The plaintiff themselves
• Other fact witnesses (employees, bystanders, contractors, family members — anyone with relevant knowledge)
• Expert witnesses (professionals who give opinion evidence on issues like medical causation, valuation, accounting, or engineering)

The judge may ask questions as well.

Exhibits

Documents are entered into evidence through witnesses who can authenticate them — "Is this the email you sent?" or "Is this the contract you signed?" Once a document is accepted as an exhibit, it is part of the formal court record.

Cross-Examination

After a witness is examined-in-chief by the plaintiff's lawyer, the defence lawyer conducts a cross-examination. Cross-examination is the adversarial heart of a trial. Defence counsel can:

• Challenge the witness's version of events
• Point out inconsistencies with prior statements or the discovery transcript
• Test the witness's memory and perceptions
• Read in discovery admissions (answers the witness gave under oath during pre-trial discovery)

Cross-examination is the primary mechanism for testing credibility. A witness who gave a clear, confident answer at discovery but tells a different story at trial will face questions. A trial judge who observes that inconsistency will weigh it in assessing how much to believe the witness.

After cross-examination, the plaintiff's lawyer may conduct a brief re-examination to clarify matters raised in cross — but only matters actually raised in cross.

Defendant's Case

After the plaintiff closes their case, the defendant presents their evidence following the same structure: examination-in-chief of their witnesses, then cross-examination by plaintiff's counsel.

The defendant may call witnesses to contradict the plaintiff's version of events, establish defences, and address damages.

Expert Witnesses

Civil trials frequently involve expert witnesses — professionals retained by each side to give opinion evidence on technical issues. Common examples:

• A medical expert on the nature and extent of injuries
• A forensic accountant on the plaintiff's financial losses
• An engineer on the cause of a structural failure
• A real estate appraiser on property value

Each side's expert is cross-examined by opposing counsel. When experts disagree, the judge must assess which expert to prefer — based on qualifications, methodology, and consistency of reasoning.

The Rules of Civil Procedure require expert reports to be exchanged in advance of trial so neither side is surprised by the other's expert evidence.

Closing Arguments

After all witnesses have testified and all exhibits are entered, counsel make closing arguments — the final opportunity to persuade the judge.

Closing argument summarizes:

• What evidence the judge should accept and why
• How that evidence proves (or fails to prove) the required elements of the claim
• How the law should be applied to the facts
• What judgment the judge should render
• What costs should be awarded

Closing argument is not evidence — it is advocacy. But a well-crafted closing argument organizes the evidence and law in a way that makes it easy for the judge to rule in your favour.

The Judgment

After hearing closing arguments, the judge either gives judgment orally from the bench (rare in civil trials) or, more commonly, reserves judgment — takes time to review the record and write a formal decision. Depending on the complexity of the case, a reserved decision may take days, weeks, or several months.

The judgment:

• States the facts the judge found proved
• Applies the law to those facts
• Awards (or denies) the relief claimed
• Deals with costs

Costs After Trial

The general rule in Ontario civil litigation is that the losing party pays a portion of the winning party's legal costs — typically on a partial indemnity basis (roughly 40–60% of actual fees). If either party made a formal offer to settle that the judgment beats, the costs award is adjusted — sometimes significantly upward against the party who should have accepted.

Appeals

A party who loses at trial may have the right to appeal to the Divisional Court or the Court of Appeal for Ontario, depending on the type of case and the amount in dispute. Appeals are not a fresh trial — they review whether the trial judge made a legal error or made factually unreasonable findings. Appeals take additional time and money.

Frequently asked questions