Lay witness statement struck for improperly including expert cultural heritage opinions and an untested expert report.
The applicant brought a motion to strike portions of a witness statement filed by the appellant's lay witness, which contained opinion evidence on cultural heritage and appended an expert report.
The appellant had previously advised it would not call a cultural heritage expert, leading the other parties to withdraw their own experts.
The Tribunal granted the motion, finding that the lay witness was not qualified to give expert opinion evidence on cultural heritage and that appending the expert report without calling the expert was improper and unfair, as it prevented cross-examination.
The witness statement was struck in its entirety, with leave to file a fresh statement omitting the improper evidence.
OLTOntario Land TribunalNov 10, 2022
