Elka Dadmand

This endorsement addresses the defendants' arguments that the plaintiff should be unable to call expert witnesses at trial due to late delivery of expert reports, in non-compliance with Rule 53.03(3) of the Rules of Civil Procedure.

The pretrial judge varied an existing timetable and abridged the time for the plaintiff's expert reports under Rule 53.03(4), allowing their admission despite the delays.

The court found no real prejudice to the defendants that could not be compensated by costs, emphasizing that a pretrial judge's discretion under Rule 53.03(4) is not as strictly bound by the "reasonable explanation" criterion as a trial judge's discretion under Rule 53.08(1).

The plaintiffs brought eight proposed class actions against various long-term care (LTC) home owners and operators in Ontario, alleging systemic negligence and gross negligence in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The court considered whether the claims met the certification criteria under section 5(1) of the Class Proceedings Act, 1992, particularly in light of the statutory immunity provided by the Supporting Ontario's Recovery Act (SORA).

The court certified six of the actions against the main corporate groups, finding that the pleadings disclosed a viable cause of action in gross negligence and that a class action was the preferable procedure.

However, the court dismissed the certification motions against independently owned homes and municipalities due to the lack of a collective enterprise and missing representative plaintiffs.