MDA Corporation v. Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, Region 15, 2015 CanLII 69923

PROCEDURAL ORDER

ISSUE DATE: October 19, 2015

BOARD ORDER NO. 138609

Assessed Person(s): Pala Holdings Limited

Appellant(s): MDA Corporation

Respondent(s): City of Brampton

Respondent(s): Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (“MPAC”) Region 15

Property Location(s): 9445 Airport Road

Municipality(ies): City of Brampton

Roll Number(s): 2110-120-992-16810-0000

Region Number(s): 15

Appeal Number(s): 2957120, 3036013, 3032327, 3086662

Taxation Year(s): 2013, 2014 and 2015

Hearing Event No. 588532

Legislative Authority: Section 32 and 40 of the Assessment Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. A.31, as amended

ARB Case Name: 138609

Heard: City of Brampton on September 16, 2015

APPEARANCES:

Parties	Counsel⁺/Representative
PALA Holdings Limited & MDA Corporation	C. Morkill, C. Jensen (Colliers Realty Tax Legal Services)
MPAC	C. Gryski ⁺
City of Brampton	A. Karreman

PROCEDURAL ORDER OF THE ASSESSMENT REVIEW BOARD

These matters came before the Assessment Review Board at a scheduled hearing event on September 16, 2015.

The parties have already Submitted and exchanged the:

a) GRAD Report and assessment data;

b) Statement of Issues.

The parties were unable to proceed to hearing on September 16, 2015, for reasons that the Appellant’s representatives had been unable to obtain essential information from the Appellant due to unforeseen security delays. All three parties requested an adjournment of the hearing.

The Board orders that:

The hearing will begin on May 16, 2016 for a 5 day event at a start time of 9:30a.m. in Municipality of Brampton at 5 Ray Lawson Blvd, 2nd floor Court Room B6 Ontario Court of Justice. The hearing is peremptory. No adjournments or delays will be granted before or during the hearing except for serious hardship or illness. The Board’s Rules apply to such requests.
Any failure by the parties to comply with dates set out below in respect of the exchange of information or commencement of the hearing may result in dismissal of the appeal on 10 days’ notice by the Board.
The Board may vary or add to this Order at any time, either on request or as it sees fit. It may alter this Order by an oral ruling or by another written Order.
Any party requiring a subsequent pre-hearing event or a motion date may contact the Registrar to secure a date and shall serve and file motion materials indicating the nature of the order requested. The motion shall be heard by teleconference call.
The appellant(s) and the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation have already exchanged Statement of Issues. The respondents have not yet served Statements of Response. Should the Municipality not serve a Statement of Response, it shall be deemed to have elected not to participate actively in the appeal. The Municipality remains a statutory party and shall be entitled to notice of all future events and service of all material, but without leave of the Board shall not be entitled to raise issues or present evidence at the hearing. Limited cross-examination may be permitted.

Inspection

Inspection(s) of the subject property have been completed.

Discovery and Production

The parties are expected to complete the process of production as necessary no later than: December 15, 2015. Any party may bring a motion in accordance with the Board's Rules. In the absence of such a motion, the process shall be deemed to have been completed to the satisfaction of all parties by the above date and no further motions will be permitted.

Pre-Hearing Requirements: Witnesses, Document Exchange and Expert Evidence

The Following items are to be exchanged:

(a) A list of witnesses, including experts and the order in which they will be called by no later than April 30, 2016;

(b) Witness statements in the form of affidavits and including the documents that the witnesses will be referring to in their evidence by no later than: April 30, 2016;

(d) All other documentary evidence to be used at the hearing.

Any documents not disclosed by the timeframes set out above, may not be used as evidence at the hearing. Where a witness statement or expert report has not been provided by this date, the witness may not give evidence at the hearing.

Expert Witnesses and Evidence

Any party who provides a witness statement of expert witness and report must have the witness attend the hearing to give oral evidence, unless the party notifies the Board at least 10 days prior to the hearing that written evidence is not part of their record or unless all parties advise in writing that they do not dispute the contents of the affidavit.
Expert witnesses who are under summons, but not paid to produce a report, do not have to file an expert witness statement; but the party calling them must file a brief outline of the expert’s evidence.
An expert witness shall prepare an expert witness statement, which shall list any reports prepared by the expert, or any other reports or documents to be relied on at the hearing. Copies of this must be provided by no later than: March 4, 2016. Instead of a witness statement, the expert may file his or her entire report if it contains the required information. If this is not done, the Board may refuse to hear the expert’s testimony.

ADR session or hearing (as the case may be), and provide this joint report/list to all of the parties.]

Other Evidence

Requests to Admit

A party may request any other to admit the truth of a fact or authenticity of a document, for the purposes of this proceeding only, by submitting a request to admit in accordance with the Rules of Practice and Procedure. A copy of the document mentioned in the request shall be served with the request, unless it is already in the other party’s possession.
A party shall be deemed to admit the truth of the facts or authenticity of the document for the purposes of the proceeding, unless within 21 days from receipt of the request the party submits a response that either specifically denies, or refuses to admit, the truth of a fact or authenticity of the a document mentioned in the request.

Confidentiality of Information

The Board may place certain information related to the business of the parties, or third-parties that provided information, under seal at the request of the party or third-party that provided the information.

Change of Written Evidence, Witness Attendance and Agreed Statement of Facts

A party wishing to change written evidence, including witness statements, must make a written motion to the Board, in accordance with the Rules of Practice and Procedure.
A party who provides a witness’s written evidence to the other parties must have the witness attend the hearing to give oral evidence, unless the party notifies the Board at least 7 days before the hearing that the written evidence is not part of their record.

Mediation and Settlement

The parties shall consider a process of ADR as described in the Rules and, if appropriate, request the assistance of the Board not later than the week of March 21, 2016, at which time the parties require one day. The Board may also direct a process of ADR at any time.
The parties shall participate in a Telephone Conference Call update conference on April, 4 2016 at 1:00p.m. (Hearing 608245). Parties should contact the Board Registrar or Case Coordinator to make appropriate arrangements. If the appeal(s) does not settle at that conference, the hearing shall proceed as scheduled.

From Toronto: 416-212-8012 or From outside Toronto: 1-866-633-0848

After hearing the conference greeting enter the code: 9814805#.

You will not be placed into the call with the other participants in the conference until the presiding member is on the line.

Please remain on the line until the presiding member calls the hearing to order.

If experiencing technical difficulties, press *0, to access the I-Serve operator for assistance.

Note that for a Telephone Conference Call event, the Board will proceed 10 minutes after start time indicated if the parties have not yet appeared.

The Board member who conducts either the mediation or the settlement conference shall not preside at the hearing of the matter, in the event that the matter does not settle.

Filing Materials for Hearing

All parties shall file jointly with the Board the following materials at the opening of the hearing:

(a) all affidavits that have been served (as above);

(b) the experts’ joint report (as above);

(d) the questions from the examinations for discovery of the adverse party, if any, upon which each party intends to rely as “read ins” as part of its case in chief.

Conduct of Hearing/Hearing Procedures

The length of the hearing will be about 5 days. The Appellant estimates that it will call 4 witnesses; MPAC estimates that it will call 2 witnesses and the Municipality estimates that it will call no witnesses.

At the hearing, subject to the discretion of the hearing panel:

a) Each party is entitled to make an oral opening statement not exceeding 10 minutes in length;

b) In respect of each witness who has sworn an affidavit, there will be a brief examination in chief not exceeding 60 minutes, followed by cross-examination of similar length by any adverse party or parties, and then re-examination subject to direction of the panel;

c) In respect of any witnesses who have refused to provide an affidavit and are testifying under a summons to witness, testimony will proceed in accordance with the procedures that would otherwise apply provided that the panel may limit testimony if it is satisfied that the refusal creates an undue advantage;

d) Each party will make an oral closing argument not exceeding 45 minutes and may also provide it in writing (no longer than 15 pages), as directed by the hearing panel.

The following Members are not seized.

“Leslie Flemming” LESLIE FLEMMING MEMBER

“Mark Spraggett” MARK SPRAGGETT MEMBER

COPIES TO: Parties who appeared/ and or participated AND TO: MPAC, Attn: Manager of Case Management arb.registrar@ontario.ca Case Coordinator, Mona El-Alaily Assessment Review Board A constituent tribunal of Environment and Land Tribunals Ontario Website: www.elto.gov.on.ca Telephone: 416-212-6349 Toll Free: 1-866-448-2248