E.S. Estate and F.S. v. City of Toronto, 2021 CanLII 46907

Tribunals Ontario

Tribunaux décisionnels Ontario

Assessment Review Board

Commission de révision de l’évaluation foncière

ISSUE DATE:

May 26, 2021

FILE NO.:

DM 170696

Assessed Person(s):

E.S. Estate and F.S.

Appellant(s):

E.S. Estate and F.S.

Respondent(s):

City of Toronto

Property Location(s):

Address withheld

Municipality(ies):

City of Toronto

Roll Number(s):

Roll number withheld

Appeal Number(s):

3422823

Taxation Year(s):

2019

Hearing Event No.:

743173

Legislative Authority:

Section 323(1)(e) of the City of Toronto Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 11, Sched. A

APPEARANCES:

Parties

Representative

E.S. Estate and F.S.

F.S.

City of Toronto

Graham Thomson and Selena Mynttinen

REQUEST FOR:

Adjournment

HEARD:

April 30, 2021 by telephone conference call

ADJUDICATOR(S):

Margarita Okhovati, Member

MOTION DECISION

OVERVIEW

1F.S. (the “Applicant”) filed an application to the City of Toronto (the “City”) to have her 2019 property taxes reduced, cancelled or refunded because she was unable to pay due to either sickness or extreme poverty under s. 323 (1)(e) of the City of Toronto Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 11, Sched. A.

2Mr. F. S., son of the Applicant and the beneficiary of the E.S. Estate is the representative of the Applicant and the E.S. Estate.

3A pre-hearing telephone conference was held on January 25, 2021 to provide information regarding the full hearing that was to be scheduled, and to confirm all the necessary documents to be provided to the Assessment Review Board (the “Board”) and the City prior to the full hearing to support the Application. At the pre-hearing teleconference it was determined that the full teleconference hearing would be held on March 8, 2021 at 9:30 a.m. and that Mr. F.S. needed to serve and file the required documentation to the City and the Board by February 16, 2021.

4The Board issued a Procedural Order (DM 168192) on February 4, 2021. This outlined the information that was discussed at the pre-hearing conference and confirmed the required documents that Mr. F.S. had to provide and file with the City and the Board to support the application.

5On February 19, 2021, Mr. F.S. requested the Board to extend the deadline for filing the documents due to COVID 19, and his limited access to his emails. On March 2, 2021, the Board granted the request for additional time and extended the date to March 8, 2021. Later, a peremptory hearing was scheduled for full hearing on April 30, 2021 and the Notice of Hearing was sent to Mr. F.S.

6Mr. F.S., neither filed the required documents within the specified time frame nor attended the full hearing on April 30, 2021 at 9:30 a.m. On the recommendation of counsel for the City, the case coordinator of the Board was contacted and asked to call Mr. F.S. to enquire the reason of his non-attendance. Mr. F.S. indicated to the case coordinator that he never received the Notice of Hearing regarding the full hearing date and that he was willing to participate in the hearing. At 9:50 a.m. Mr. F.S. accessed the hearing through teleconference.

7At the hearing, Mr. F.S. stated that he never received the Notice of Hearing and never filed the required documents because of his limited access to his emails. He stated that children in the neighborhood who study online and people who work remotely because of the pandemic have made the computers slow. He stated further that he could not use the computers in the library as well because of the emergency lockdown.

8Mr. F.S. sounded very upset. He stated that he was going through an acute medical condition and the stress he was experiencing by answering all the questions for a long time could cause him bleeding and put him in the emergency department of the hospital on that day. Mr. F.S. stated that if the Board granted another adjournment and set the date of the next full hearing after the May 20 lockdown, he would try to comply with the Board’s requirements with respect to the documents. He stated that he had already prepared some of the documents.

9Rather than dismissing the Application, as the Board could have done for failing to comply with the Board’s Rules of Practice and Procedure (“Rules”), the Board decided to exercise its discretion by granting another adjournment to Mr. F.S. considering his medical condition. It should also be noted that Mr. F.S. did not make an effort to contact either the Board or the Municipality regarding the difficulties he was encountering with his computer prior to the April 30 hearing.

ORDER

10The Board orders that the full peremptory teleconference hearing to be adjourned to June 9 at 9:30 a.m. by teleconference. This hearing will be peremptory and no further adjournments or extensions to deliver the required documents will be granted, unless new exceptional circumstances arise.

11All documentation sent to the Municipality must be copied to the Board, and all the documentation sent to the Board must be copied to the Municipality pursuant to Rule 9.

12Mr. F.S. shall notify the Board prior to the hearing on June 9, 2021, if for any reason, he is unable to provide all the necessary documents and state his position whether he decides to withdraw the Application.

13A doctor’s note to be sent to the Board to substantiate the medical problem of Mr. F.S. prior to the June 9 hearing, should Mr. F.S. file an Expediated Board Directions (“EBD”) request for adjournment.

14The Board will send the Notice of Hearing to Mr. F.S. for June 9, 2021 hearing both by email and regular mail.