Court File and Parties
COURT FILE NO.: CV-22-89709-OT DATE: 2022/08/16
SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE – ONTARIO
In the matter of the Solicitors Act, RSO 1990, c. S.15 as amended
RE: Karendeap Singh, et al., Applicants AND: Teplitsky, Colson LLP, Solicitors
BEFORE: Regional Senior Justice Calum MacLeod – in writing
COUNSEL: Ian Roher & Dylan Baker, for the solicitors No one appearing for the Applicants
HEARD: August 16, 2022
ENDORSEMENT
[1] This is a motion by the lawyers whose bills are the subject of an Assessment commenced by the clients in Toronto. The solicitors seek an order transferring the Assessment to Ottawa from Toronto.
[2] The basis for the motion is the assertion that it is impossible to have the matter heard in Toronto before sometime in 2024, whereas it is their understanding that the matter could be disposed of in Ottawa within three months. The moving party argues that it is not in the interests of either party to have this matter delayed. There is a substantial amount in dispute and interest is accruing. The Applicant clients have not objected to the transfer insofar as they have remained silent in the face of this motion.
[3] I am not prepared to grant this motion. Toronto is the appropriate venue for this matter because the legal work in issue related to civil litigation before the court in Toronto and the lawyers maintain their office in Toronto. The clients all reside in the Greater Toronto Area. The underlying fraud action involved defendants in Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton and other parts of the GTA. There has never been any connection with Ottawa or the East Region.
[4] The only basis for arguing that the matter would appropriately be dealt with in Ottawa is the belief of the solicitors that the one Assessment Officer in the East Region is current and could dispose of this matter promptly. That is accurate so far as I am aware, but that is not a good reason to transfer Assessments from Toronto.
[5] The Assessment system in Ontario is problematic and is in need of reform.[^1] In particular, the system in Toronto is plagued by endemic backlogs and delays that have existed for decades.[^2] The answer to this does not lie in moving proceedings from Toronto to other parts of the province where the backlog may be less, but which otherwise have no relationship to the issues in dispute.
[6] It may be, as suggested by the moving party, that assessment officers in other parts of the province could hear some Toronto matters by videoconference or that other resources could be harnessed using modern technology. That is not a basis to grant this motion. It is a basis for creative thinking to properly resource the Assessment system in Toronto or elsewhere that backlogs may exist.
[7] The motion is dismissed. As the clients filed no material and did not appear, this is not a matter for costs.
Regional Senior Justice C. MacLeod
Date: August 16, 2022
COURT FILE NO.: CV-22-89709-OT DATE: 2022/08/16
ONTARIO SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE
RE: Karendeap Singh, et al., Applicants AND: Teplitsky, Colson LLP, Solicitors
BEFORE: Regional Senior Justice Calum MacLeod
COUNSEL: Ian Roher & Dylan Baker, for the solicitors No one appearing for the Applicants
Endorsement
Regional Senior Justice C. MacLeod
Released: August 16, 2022
[^1]: See Moore v. John A. Annen Barrister Professional Corporation, 2017 ONSC 7720 and see Gilbert's LLP v. David Dixon Inc., 2017 ONSC 1345 (Div.Ct.)
[^2]: See Linett v. Aird & Berlis LLP, 2018 ONSC 2144