Ontario Land Tribunal
ISSUE DATE: December 6, 2024
CASE NO.: OLT-24-000825
PROCEEDING COMMENCED UNDER subsection 26(1) of the Expropriations Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. E.26, as amended
Claimant: Craft Kingsmen Rail (East) Corp.
Respondent: Metrolinx
Subject: Claim for compensation
Property Address: Various Addresses
Municipality: City of Toronto
OLT Case No.: OLT-24-000825
OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-24-000825
OLT Case Name: Craft Kingsmen Rail (East) Corp. v. Metrolinx
BEFORE: WILLIAM MIDDLETON VICE-CHAIR Thursday, the 28th day of November 2024
THIS MATTER having not yet come before the Ontario Land Tribunal (the “Tribunal”) for a public hearing;
AND THE TRIBUNAL having directed the submission of a draft Procedural Order on consent of all the parties;
AND THE TRIBUNAL having received the requested draft Procedural Order, on consent, and having considered and revised the terms thereof;
THE TRIBUNAL ORDERS that the Procedural Order attached hereto as Schedule “1” is in full force and effect;
AND THE TRIBUNAL ORDERS the scheduling of a twenty-five (25) day in-person hearing on March 2, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. at:
Hearing Room 1412 655 Bay Street, 14th Floor Toronto, Ontario M5G 2K4
“Euken Lui” EUKEN LUI ACTING REGISTRAR
Ontario Land Tribunal
Website: olt.gov.on.ca Telephone: 416-212-6349 Toll Free: 1-866-448-2248
The Conservation Review Board, the Environmental Review Tribunal, the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal and the Mining and Lands Tribunal are amalgamated and continued as the Ontario Land Tribunal.
SCHEDULE 1
PROCEDURAL ORDER
- The Tribunal may vary or add to the directions in this procedural order at any time by an oral ruling or by another written order, either on the parties’ request or its own motion.
Organization of the Hearing
The in-person hearing will begin on March 2 to April 7, 2026 as directed by the Tribunal. The Tribunal will not be sitting on April 3, 2026 & April 6, 2026.
The parties’ initial estimation for the length of the hearing is twenty-five (25) days. The parties are expected to cooperate to reduce the length of the hearing by eliminating redundant evidence and attempting to reach settlements on issues where possible.
The parties identified are set out in Attachment 1.
The procedural timetable of pre-hearing steps is set out in Attachment 2 to this Order.
The issues are set out in the Issues List attached as Attachment 3. There will be no changes to this list unless the Tribunal permits, and a party who asks for changes may have costs awarded against it.
The order of evidence shall be provided on or before Monday, January 19, 2026 in accordance with paragraph 32 below. The Tribunal may limit the amount of time allocated for opening statements, evidence in chief (including the qualification of witnesses), cross-examination, evidence in reply and final argument. The length of written argument, if any, may be limited either on the parties’ consent, subject to the Tribunal’s approval, or by Order of the Tribunal.
All parties, counsel and witnesses, are expected to review the Tribunal’s Video Hearing Guide, available on the Tribunal’s website.
Pleadings
The Claimant, Craft Kingsmen Rail (East) Corp., served and filed a Notice of Arbitration and Statement of Claim on August 12, 2024.
The Respondent, Metrolinx, served and filed its Reply on September 03, 2024.
Preliminary Mediation
On a without prejudice basis, the parties will exchange appraisal and planning reports on or before February 28, 2025.
The parties have agreed to participate in a preliminary mediation that will take place on March 17 and March 21, 2025.
Discovery
Affidavits of Documents (together with production briefs of the documents) shall be exchanged by April 18, 2025.
Examinations for Discoveries of the representative of each party shall be completed by Friday, May 9, 2025. The parties’ consent to conducting examinations for discovery by way of videoconference.
All undertakings provided at the Examination for Discovery of the parties shall be answered by Monday, May 26, 2025.
Any motion(s) arising out of the Examinations for Discovery shall be filed in writing only with the Tribunal within thirty (30) days of the deadline in paragraph 15. The OLT Rules apply in relation to any Motion(s) arising out of the discovery process.
Further answers to undertakings, questions taken under advisement, and/or refusals, further examinations for discovery, and/or further productions arising from a motion are to be answered, held, and/or provided within thirty (30) days of the date of the Order made by the Tribunal on the written discovery motion before the Tribunal.
Mediation
The parties have conferred to discuss participating in a mediation for the purpose of resolving all or part of the claim pursuant to Rule 26.6 and the parties shall comply with the provisions of Rule 26.7.
The parties agree that, if participation in a mediation is agreed to by both parties, the parties are to file with the Registrar an Expropriation Mediation Request Form pursuant to Rule 26.5 on or before Friday, September 12, 2025.
If the parties agree to a mediation, the mediation shall take place on October 6 and October 10, 2025.
Evidence
A party who intends to call witnesses, whether by summons or not, shall provide to the Tribunal and the other parties a list of the witnesses and the order in which they will be called by Friday, October 31, 2025.
Expert witnesses in the same field shall have a meeting on or before Friday, November 14, 2025 use best efforts to try to resolve or reduce the issues for the hearing. Following the experts’ meeting the parties must prepare and file a Statement of Agreed Facts and Issues with the OLT case co-ordinator on or before Friday, December 05, 2025.
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 as in paragraph 33 below. 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 Tribunal may refuse to hear the expert’s testimony. The expert witness must include a copy of the witness’ Curriculum Vitae and the area of expertise in which the witness is prepared to be qualified and a signed Acknowledgement of Expert’s Duty.
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 as in paragraph 25 below. A party who intends to call a witness who is not an expert must file a brief outline of the witness’ evidence, as in paragraph 25 below.
On or before Monday, July 28, 2025, the parties shall provide copies of their respective expert witness reports and non-expert/lay witness statements to the other parties and to the OLT case co-ordinator and in accordance with paragraph 33 below and subject to paragraph 24 above.
Parties may provide to all other parties and the OLT case co-ordinator a written response or reply to any written evidence on or before Monday, September 8, 2025 and in accordance with paragraph 33 below. Only if and as permitted by the Tribunal pursuant to a written motion/request by the Parties, the Parties may provide to all other parties and the OLT case co-ordinator a written sur-response or sur-reply to any response or reply on or before Monday, September 22, 2025 and in accordance with paragraph 33 below.
Requirements Prior to the Hearing
On or before Tuesday, October 28, 2025 the parties shall confirm with the Tribunal if all the reserved hearing dates are still required. By this same date, in the event that a Party seeks to exclude or limit all or part of any expert report delivered in this proceeding, that Party must initiate a motion in writing to the Tribunal for such relief. No such motion shall be brought at the hearing of this matter, except by leave of the Tribunal.
On or before Friday, December 12, 2025, the parties shall provide copies of their visual evidence to all of the other parties in accordance with paragraph 33 below. If a model will be used, all parties must have a reasonable opportunity to view it before the hearing.
The parties shall cooperate to prepare a joint document book which shall be shared with the OLT case co-ordinator on or before Friday, November 07, 2025.
A party who provides written evidence of a witness to the other parties must have the witness attend the hearing to give oral evidence, unless the party notifies the Tribunal on or before Monday, January 19, 2026 that the written evidence is not part of their record.
Any party choosing to exercise its right to serve a request to admit facts or documents pursuant to Rule 51 of the Rules of Civil Procedure incorporated by reference in Tribunal Rules 1.4 and 26.3 shall serve such request on the party opposite on or before Friday, October 17, 2025.
The parties shall prepare and file a hearing plan with the Tribunal on or before Monday, January 19, 2026 with a proposed schedule for the hearing that identifies, as a minimum, the parties participating in the hearing, the preliminary matters (if any to be addressed), the anticipated order of evidence, the date each witness is expected to attend, the anticipated length of time for evidence to be presented by each witness in chief, cross-examination and re-examination (if any) and the expected length of time for final submissions. The parties are expected to ensure that the hearing proceeds in an efficient manner and in accordance with the hearing plan. The Tribunal may, at its discretion, change or alter the hearing plan at any time in the course of the hearing.
All filings shall be submitted electronically and in hard copy, unless otherwise directed by the Tribunal. Electronic copies may be filed by email, an electronic file sharing service for documents that exceed 10MB in size, or as otherwise directed by the Tribunal. The delivery of documents by email shall be governed by the Tribunal’s Rule 7.
Adjournments
- The Tribunal’s Rule 17 shall apply to requests for adjournment.
BEFORE: Name of Member: Date:
TRIBUNAL REGISTRAR
Attachment 1 – List of Parties
| Party | Party Status | Counsel / Representative |
|---|---|---|
| Craft Kingsmen Rail (East) Corp. | Claimant | SCARGALL OWEN-KING LLP 17 Leader Lane Toronto, Ontario M5E 1L8 Paul B. Scargall (LSO: 28643G) Tel: 416.869.3417 Email: paul.scargall@sokllp.com Doron Lurie (LSO: 770550H) Tel: 416.869.2205 Email: doron.lurie@sokllp.com |
| Metrolinx | Respondent | AIRD & BERLIS LLP Brookfield Place 181 Bay Street, Suite 1800 Toronto, Ontario M5J 2T9 Brendan O'Callaghan (LSO: 30028A) Tel: 647.426.2832 Email: bocallaghan@airdberlis.com Anna Lu (LSO: 80069H) Tel: (416) 865-3419 Email: alu@airdberlis.com |
Attachment 2 – Timetable
| Step | Date |
|---|---|
| Without-prejudice exchange of appraisal and planning reports | February 28, 2025 |
| Preliminary Mediation (2 days) | March 17 & 21, 2025 |
| Exchange Affidavit of Documents | April 18, 2025 |
| Examinations for Discovery | May 09, 2025 |
| Appraisal Reports to be exchanged subject to direction of the Tribunal | N/A |
| Undertakings to be Answered | May 26, 2025 |
| Any motions arising from Examinations or Undertakings to be requested /scheduled | 30 days from the deadline for answers to undertakings |
| Any further undertakings to be answered following the motion | 30 days from the date of the discovery motion, if any |
| Exchange of Expert Witness Statements / Reports / Lay Witness Statements | July 28, 2025 |
| Exchange of Expert Reply Witness Statements / Reply Reports | September 08, 2025 |
| Exchange of Expert Sur-Reply Witness Statements / Sur-Reply Reports | September 22, 2025 |
| Filing of Expropriation Mediation Request Form | September 12, 2025 |
| OLT Mediation (2 days) | October 6 & 10, 2025 |
| Request to Admit | October 17, 2025 |
| Confirm whether all hearing dates still required and deadline to commence written motion to exclude or limit expert reports | October 28, 2025 |
| Exchange of Witness List and order to be called | October 31, 2025 |
| Joint Document Book | November 7, 2025 |
| Meeting(s) of Like Experts | November 14, 2025 |
| Agreed Statement of Facts | December 5, 2025 |
| Visual Evidence | December 12, 2025 |
| Preparation of Hearing Plan | January 19, 2026 |
| Documents to be used in cross-examination | To be provided on or before the first day of the hearing or in advance of the start of cross-examination |
| Hearing (25 days) | March 02 – April 03, 2026 |
Attachment 3 – Issues List
The issues are as set out in the pleadings.