Court File and Parties
COURT FILE NO.: CV-19-617274 DATE: 20201029
SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE – ONTARIO
RE: SUTTON GROUP-ADMIRAL REALTY INC. and PAVLO ANTONENKO, Applicants AND: GANNA TABAROVKSA, Respondent
BEFORE: Davies J.
COUNSEL: Matthew Kim, for the Applicants Vladimira Ivanov, for the Respondent
HEARD at Toronto via Zoom: October 26, 2020
REASONS FOR DECISIONS
1This matter is already scheduled for a two-day trial before me commencing November 16, 2020. A further case management hearing was convened today to discuss how the trial will proceed.
2It is anticipated that there will be three witnesses at trial: Mr. Antonenko, Ms. Tabarovksa and Ms. Tabarovksa’s father. Ms. Tabarovksa’s father lives in Ukraine. He planned to come to Canada in August of this year. His plans were disrupted because of COVID-19. Mr. Tabarovksa still hoped he would be able to travel to Canada before the trial, but that too has proved impossible.
3Mr. Tabarovksa will, therefore, testify by video. Ms Ivanov advised that Mr. Tabarovksa has upgraded his Internet service in Ukraine and is now able to participate by video.
4Subject to any further restrictions on court operations before November 16, 2020 and subject to courtroom availability, this trial is to proceed as a hybrid trial. Mr. Tabarovksa will testify by video. If possible, the other witnesses will testify in person.
5The parties are to prepare a joint document brief to be used during the trial.
6The parties are to create a sync.com folder for this matter and are to upload the joint book of documents and the trial brief to that folder. Counsel are to send a link to the sync.com folder to my assistant, Daisy Ng (daisy.ng@ontario.ca), no later than November 12, 2020.
7Counsel are to contact the trial office to arrange for any technology they will need during the trial, including a document projector.
8Counsel are to jointly conduct a test-run on Zoom.com with Mr. Tabarovksa and the interpreter in advance of trial to ensure he is familiar with the technology, including the screen share function.
9To the extent that either party intends to adduce any document that is not in the joint book of documents during the trial, they are to have an electronic copy available to be uploaded to the sync.com folder in addition to the hard copy.
10The parties have agreed that Mr. Tabarovksa will be the first witness called to accommodate the time difference between Canada and Ukraine. The parties have also agreed that Ms. Tabarovksa will testify after her father on November 16, 2020 and that Mr. Antonenko will testify on November 17, 2020. I am content with this order of proceedings
11I advised counsel that the Chief Justice has made an Order that no more than 10 people can be in a courtroom at a time. Counsel assured me that this restriction would not interfere with our ability to conduct this trial in person.
Davies J.
Date: October 29, 2020