Mendosa v. SIR Corp. o/a Jack Astor’s Dundas Square, 2015 HRTO 506

HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL OF ONTARIO

B E T W E E N:

Joseph Mendosa

Applicant

-and-

SIR Corp. o/a Jack Astor’s Dundas Square

Respondent

INTERIM DECISION

Adjudicator: David Muir

Date: April 21, 2015

Citation: 2015 HRTO 506

Indexed as: Mendosa v. SIR Corp. o/a Jack Astor’s Dundas Square

1A hearing in respect of this Application is scheduled for May 13 and 14, 2015 in Toronto.

2In a Case Assessment Direction issued on April 7, 2015 the applicant was alerted to the fact that he has failed to comply with Rules 16 and 17 of the HRTO’s Rules of Procedure regarding pre-hearing disclosure of witnesses and was directed to do so by April 20, 2015.

3On April 15, 2015 the applicant requested a 10 day extension to deliver and file his materials.

4In a letter dated April 17, 2015 the applicant’s representative wrote to the Tribunal advising that he had just been retained and was seeking an adjournment of the hearing dates citing his unavailability on one of the two dates scheduled.

5The respondent consents to the Request.

6The request to adjourn this hearing is denied.

7The 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.

8In Vallentyne v. Royal Canadian Legion, 2009 HRTO 660 at para. 4, the Tribunal explained why, even when there is consent, an adjournment of a scheduled hearing will not be granted absent exceptional circumstances:

The Tribunal is committed to the fair, just and expeditious resolution of proceedings before it. It expects to receive thousands of applications each year. The Tribunal has a responsibility to ensure that public resources are used effectively to meet the demands of all parties before the Tribunal. Therefore, when an adjournment request is made, it is not only the interests of the parties to the particular proceeding must consider, but the fact that Tribunal time reserved for the resolution of those parties’ dispute will no longer be used. For that reason, among others, the Tribunal’s Information Bulletin on Scheduling of Hearings and Mediations, Rescheduling Requests and Requests for Adjournments (Now the Practice Direction) indicates that even adjournment requests made on consent of the parties more than five [now fourteen] days after the hearing is scheduled may be denied. The Tribunal has balanced the interests of parties in having hearings scheduled according to their and counsel’s availability with these broader interests by requiring that a party advise within five [now fourteen] days that they are unavailable, and providing that requests for adjournment will not otherwise be granted, absent exceptional circumstances.

9The reasons cited by the applicant’s representative are not extraordinary circumstances justifying an adjournment of the hearing at this late stage. The parties were consulted about the hearing date and the dates were confirmed in a Notice of Hearing sent to the parties on November 26, 2014. Where a party changes representatives or retains a representative after the hearing dates have been fixed it is expected that they will retain a representative who is available on the scheduled date(s).

ORDERS

10The applicant’s request to adjourn the hearing is denied. The applicant is directed to deliver and file the materials required of him in the Case Assessment Direction dated April 7, 2015 and confirm that he will attend the hearing on May 13 and 14, 2015 by May 2, 2015 failing which this Application may be dismissed as abandoned.