Linda Byers v. Fiddick’s Nursing Home Ltd., 2011 HRTO 78

HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO

B E T W E E N:

Linda Byers

Applicant

-and-

Fiddick’s Nursing Home Ltd., Canadace Lefebvre and Michael Fiddick

Respondents

Interim decision

Adjudicator: Alison Renton

Date: January 11, 2011

Citation: 2011 HRTO 78

Indexed As: Byers v. Fiddick’s Nursing Home

1The hearing in this matter commenced on October 26 and 27, 2010. Three additional hearing dates have been scheduled for February 1, 2 and 3, 2011 pursuant to the Confirmation of Continuation of Hearing notice dated November 17, 2010.

2On January 3, 2011, Mr. Bildfell’s firm emailed the Tribunal and stated:

I have attempted to reach you by telephone on several occasions and have forwarded a number of e-mail requests to your office. As indicated my client is not available for the dates scheduled for the continuation of the hearing in this matter namely, February 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd, 2011.

I further confirm that I have spoken with the solicitor representing the respondents and she is agreeable to re-scheduling this hearing for March 9^th, 10^th and 11^th, 2011.

May I please hear from you regarding the request to reschedule the hearing in this matter.

3Requests for adjournments are addressed in the Tribunal’s Practice Direction on Scheduling of Hearings and Mediations, Rescheduling Requests, and Requests for Adjournments. In that Practice Direction the Tribunal states:

The HRTO discourages requests for adjournments outside the 14-day period to request rescheduling of a hearing, described above. Requests for adjournments, particularly at the last minute, are a significant impediment to fair and timely access to justice. Therefore, the HRTO will only grant adjournments in extraordinary circumstances such as illness of a party, witness or representative. Absent exceptional circumstances, the HRTO will not grant adjournments, even when all parties consent.

Where a party seeks to adjourn a previously scheduled mediation or hearing, they must contact the Registrar as soon as the need arises. They must contact the other parties to seek their consent, and to discuss alternative dates for the rescheduling of the mediation or hearing.

The party making the request should contact the Registrar and provide the exceptional circumstances supporting the request and any alternative agreed upon dates. Where the request is on short notice, the party must contact the Registrar by email or fax.

4Having reviewed Mr. Bildfell’s office’s January 3, 2011 email with Tribunal personnel, other than the January 3 email, the Tribunal has not received any other emails from the applicant requesting an adjournment of the February hearing dates.

5The applicant’s January 3 email request merely states that the applicant is now unavailable for the February hearing dates with no additional information provided. The request does not, in my opinion, constitute exceptional circumstances and as such the request for adjournment is denied.