CITATION: Shaulov v. Law Society of Ontario, 2021 ONSC 1656

COURT FILE NO.: 502/20

DATE: 20210305

SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE – ONTARIO – DIVISIONAL COURT

RE: Shaulov v. Law Society of Ontario

COUNSEL: Mr Shaulov, self-represented Applicant / Moving Party

Mr Wiebe, for the Respondent / Responding Party

BEFORE: D.L. Corbett J.

DATE: March 1, 2021

ENDORSEMENT

D.L. Corbett j.:

[1] This is a motion by the applicant to convert this application into an action.

[2] The applicant has misunderstood the procedural options available to him. In his application he appears to make two kinds of claims:

(a) allegations that the Law Society’s licensing examinations are ultra vires the Law Society; and

(b) allegations that the Law Society has infringed or denied his rights under ss. 7 and 15 of the Charter by refusing to grant him a license to practice law, or in the manner in which it has established its licensing requirements to the effect that he has not been able to satisfy those requirements.

[3] The claims described in para. 2(a) are properly advanced by application in the Divisional Court: they allege that a statutory decision maker, or a person vested with statutory authority, has acted without jurisdiction in making a statutory decision or exercising a statutory authority.

[4] The claims described in para. 2(b) are either (i) in the exclusive jurisdiction of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, or (ii) claims of violations of constitutional rights that may be pursued in a “court of competent jurisdiction” which, in Ontario, is the Superior Court of Justice.

[5] Application materials have now been exchanged and the application should be ready to proceed, but now Mr Shalov wishes to convert the application into an action, obtain discovery from the Law Society related to the way in which it devised its examinations, and, in addition, Mr Shaulov wishes to add a private contractor of the Law Society to the action because of its role assisting the Law Society to set its examinations. The reason Mr Shaulov wants to do these things is that the core claims he advances in this case relate to the qualities of the examinations mandated by the Law Society, and not the Law Society’s jurisdiction to require and set examinations.

[6] The Divisional Court does not hear actions. It does not hear oral testimony. It sits in panels of three judges on the basis of a written record compiled by the parties ahead of the hearing, usually based on the written record before the tribunal or statutory delegate whose decision or conduct is under review. There is no case of which I am aware in which the Divisional Court has converted an application for judicial review into an action and then conducted a full trial of the action before a panel of the court. Mr Shaulov referenced the Rules and jurisprudence in respect to applications brought in the Superior Court, which may be converted into actions in some circumstances. In my view those cases have no application to practice in Divisional Court, which is an intermediate appeal and review court and not a trial court.

[7] Given all the circumstances, I transfer this case to the Superior Court of Justice, strike out the Notice of Application, and direct Mr Shaulov to serve and file a Statement of Claim asserting claims properly in the jurisdiction of the Superior Court of Justice in respect to the subject matter of the current application. For limitations purposes, the claim against the Law Society will be deemed to have been commenced when the application was commenced in this court. Claims against any other parties will be deemed to have been commenced on the date the Statement of Claim is issued.

[8] This court recommends that any proceedings in the Superior Court be considered for case management.

[9] If costs of the application to date cannot be resolved then the parties will address the issue of costs on a schedule to be agreed between them provided all costs materials reach this court by May 31, 2021.

[10] Any hearing date scheduled for this application is vacated.

D.L. Corbett J.

Date released: March 5, 2021