CITATION: Holguin v. Skiadopoulos, 2021 ONSC 335
DIVISIONAL COURT FILE NO.: 587/19
DATE: 20210114
SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE – ONTARIO
DIVISIONAL COURT
RE: OCTAVIO HOLGUIN, Appellant/Tenant
AND: ATHINA SKIADOPOULOS, Respondent/Landlord
BEFORE: D.L. Corbett J.
HEARD: By videoconference on January 14, 2021
COUNSEL: Alissa N. Winicki, for the Moving Party Landlord
Mr Holguin, not appearing
ENDORSEMENT
[1] This is a motion by the landlord to dismiss this appeal for delay.
[2] This date was set by direction of this court on December 11, 2020 during a case management teleconference.
[3] On January 12, 2021, the tenant wrote to the court requesting an adjournment of the hearing today. That request was denied without prejudice to the tenant seeking an adjournment from the presiding judge at the return of the motion on January 14, 2021.
[4] The tenant did not appear on January 14, 2021. At the court’s direction, the Registrar telephoned the tenant to advise him that the hearing was proceeding. The Registrar advised that the tenant told her that he was having difficulty connecting to the ZOOM videoconference. The Registrar provided the tenant with the information to connect to the hearing by telephone – all that was required was for the tenant to call the number provided to him by the Registrar. He did not call in and had not called in by 10:40 am when the hearing was concluded.
[5] The hearing proceeded in the tenant’s absence. I did not call upon counsel for the landlord to make oral arguments: the record clearly established a basis for the requested relief. For reasons given orally at the hearing, the stay of the eviction order of the Landlord and Tenant Board is lifted, effective immediately. The appeal is dismissed. Costs to the landlord of the appeal, including the motion, fixed at $5,000 inclusive, payable forthwith.
[6] The court has directed that a transcript be prepared of the court’s oral reasons, which will be released as a formal endorsement from the court in due course. The court reserves the option of editing the reasons before release and the edited reasons signed by the court shall be the court’s reasons for the decision. The order is effective from the time it was made on January 14, 2021.
[7] As I advised counsel for the landlord, this order does not address the temporary suspension of enforcement of eviction orders directed by Ontario to take effect today in response to COVID-19.
D.L. Corbett J.
Date: January 14, 2021