Esther del Carmen Mancebo-Munoz v. NCO Financial Services Inc., 2013 HRTO 758

HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO

B E T W E E N:

Esther del Carmen Mancebo-Munoz

Applicant

-and-

NCO Financial Services Inc.

Respondent

INTERIM DECISION

Adjudicator: Jo-Anne Pickel

Date: May 7, 2013

Citation: 2013 HRTO 758

Indexed as: Mancebo-Munoz v. NCO Financial Services Inc.

1This Interim Decision addresses the applicant’s adjournment request.

2By e-mail dated April 24, 2013, the applicant requested an adjournment of the hearing scheduled to take place next week, on May 13-15, 2013. The applicant provides as the reason for her request the fact that she has been suffering from serious mood and anxiety disorders that cause significant and chronic impairment in her ability to carry out activities of daily living, including dealing with this Application. In support of her request she refers to the medical assessments she filed as part of her Application materials. The medical assessments she filed with the Tribunal indicate that the applicant has suffered from anxiety for at least the past two years.

3In her e-mail the applicant also noted that she has been seeking to retain a lawyer but that she has had difficulties in following through on her search due to her medical situation. She states that she has been referred to a lawyer but that he will not be able to prepare the witness statement ordered in my last CAD by May 9, 2013, the deadline set out in the CAD.

4The respondent opposes the applicant’s adjournment request. It submits that the applicant’s request is a delay tactic. The respondent also submits that it would be prejudiced by an adjournment as it has already prepared for the hearing and its witnesses and client have already made arrangements to travel to Toronto for the hearing.

5The Tribunal’s Practice Direction on Scheduling of Hearings and Mediations, Rescheduling Requests, and Requests for Adjournments states:

The HRTO discourages requests for adjournments outside the ten-day period to request rescheduling of a hearing (…) 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, copied to the other parties.

6As the Practice Direction makes clear, not only are extraordinary or exceptional circumstances required to justify an adjournment of a scheduled hearing date, but it also is the responsibility of the party seeking the adjournment to provide sufficient support for the Request.

7In my view, the applicant has failed to provide sufficient support for her adjournment request. It is clear from the medical evidence filed in support of her Application that she has suffered from significant anxiety for at least the past two years. The latest letter from her psychiatrist makes clear that her condition is “chronic”. Meanwhile, the hearing has been scheduled since October 2012. The applicant has failed to explain what it is about her medical condition that has changed and that would necessitate an adjournment of the hearing the week before it is scheduled to begin.

8Accordingly, the applicant’s adjournment request is denied. In the circumstances the Tribunal is prepared to permit the applicant to testify at the hearing without filing a witness statement on the understanding that she will be testifying as to the contents of her Application.

9The applicant is directed to confirm with the Tribunal, with a copy to the respondent, that she will be present for the hearing which will take place May 13-15.