Rayon Wallace v. Tune Up To Tires Inc., 2015 HRTO 1337

Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario

B E T W E E N:

Rayon Wallace Applicant

-and-

Tune Up To Tires Inc., Gus Moumoris, and Mohammed Feredounnia Respondents

INTERIM DECISION

Adjudicator: Mary Truemner Date: October 7, 2015 Citation: 2015 HRTO 1337 Indexed As: Wallace v. Tune Up To Tires Inc.

1A hearing in respect of this Application, filed under the Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19, as amended, is scheduled for November 24 and 25 in Toronto.

2This Interim Decision deals with the applicant’s request to amend his Application, and alerts the applicant and the respondents to the fact that they appear to have failed to comply with Rule 16 of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario’s (the Tribunal’s) Rules of Procedure regarding pre-hearing disclosure of all arguably relevant documents.

Amendment

3The applicant retained counsel after filing his Application, and now seeks to amend the Application by striking out many paragraphs of his Application and Reply. The Request for Order During Proceedings which contains the request to amend was filed on September 8, 2015. The respondents have not responded, and the time for doing so has now passed.

4I see no reason not to allow the amendments. The proposed amendments reduce the issues and allegations, thereby streamlining the hearing of the Application. The proposed amendments do not appear to prejudice the respondents in any way. They will also ensure a more expeditious process.

5The applicant’s request to amend his Application is granted. While the applicant’s counsel suggested that the respondents amend their Responses to address the amendments, this is not a requirement.

Disclosure Obligations

6As the Tribunal notified the parties in the May 5, 2015 Notice of Rescheduled Hearing in this matter, under Rule 16 of the Tribunal’s Rules of Procedure, they were obliged to deliver to each other all arguably relevant documents in their possession (except those that are privileged), and send to the Tribunal a Statement of Delivery (Form 23) by May 26, 2015 confirming that they had done so.

7It is now more than four months past this deadline and neither the applicant nor the respondents have complied with this requirement to each file a Statement of Delivery with the Tribunal, confirming the delivery of the arguably relevant documents.

8The parties are directed to immediately file their Statements of Delivery, confirming that they have delivered their arguably relevant documents to each other.

Next Steps

9The Notice of Hearing advised the parties that under Tribunal Rules 16 and 17, the parties were obliged to provide the following things by no later than October 12, 2015:

a. a list of the documents they intend to rely on at the hearing (these are the documents that you have chosen to put before the Tribunal from among the documents previously disclosed by both parties) – to one another and to the Tribunal;

b. copies of each of these documents for the Tribunal; and

c. a list of witnesses with witness statements setting out the intended evidence of each witness – to one another and to the Tribunal.

10This deadline is fast approaching, but I note that the corporate respondent’s counsel notified the Tribunal earlier this year that his instructing client was seriously ill, and that the hearing might need to be adjourned.

11Any request to extend a deadline or to adjourn the hearing for medical reasons must be accompanied by a medical document confirming that accommodation is required.

12The Tribunal’s Rules of Procedure are available at www.sjto.gov.on.ca/hrto/ under “Law, Rules, Decisions”.

13The parties may also benefit from reviewing the Tribunal’s “Guide to Preparing for a Hearing before the HRTO”, available at www.sjto.gov.on.ca/hrto/ under “Forms & Filing”.