Pierrette Plante v. Foyer Richelieu Welland Inc., 2015 HRTO 1609

HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO

B E T W E E N:

Pierrette Plante Applicant

-and-

Foyer Richelieu Welland Inc. Respondent

INTERIM DECISION

Adjudicator: David Muir Date: November 27, 2015 Citation: 2015 HRTO 1609 Indexed as: Plante v. Foyer Richelieu Welland Inc.

1A summary hearing in respect of this Application is scheduled to take place on December 10, 2015 by telephone conference call.

2On November 25, 2015 the applicant’s representative requested an adjournment of the summary hearing because of a sudden illness of the colleague which required the representative to take over a case scheduled for a hearing at the Social Benefits Tribunal. The respondent opposes the request for adjournment.

3The request to adjourn this hearing is granted.

4The Tribunal’s Practice Direction provides that requests to reschedule must be made within 14 days of receiving the Notice of Hearing and that thereafter, adjournment will be granted only in extraordinary circumstances. The Practice Direction states the following regarding requests for adjournments:

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.

5The reasons cited by the applicant’s representative for this request are extraordinary circumstances justifying an adjournment of the summary hearing. The reason for the request was an unexpected and extraordinary circumstance for which no other remedy other than an adjournment appears to be appropriate. Also because this is an adjournment of a summary hearing, the delay in it being re-scheduled will be less than if it were a merits hearing, and similarly the parties will have expended fewer resources in getting to this stage of the proceeding than if it were the adjournment of a merits hearing.

6For all of these reasons the request to adjourn the December 10, 2015 hearing is granted. The telephone hearing date is cancelled and will be re-scheduled in due course.

7I am not seized.