The Local Administrative Judge in Hamilton raised, sua sponte, the issue of whether a civil action for recovery of investment funds had any rational connection to Hamilton.
Neither the parties, the property, the subject matter, the events, nor the lawyers had any connection to Hamilton; all connections were to the Central West and Toronto Judicial Regions.
The plaintiffs argued they had legitimate concerns about fairness in Central West due to the defendants' significant local presence and over fifty similar actions in the region, but the court rejected the allegations of bias as without foundation.
Relying on the court's inherent jurisdiction to control its own process and the Consolidated Civil Provincial Practice Direction, the court found the plaintiffs' venue choice was not a legitimate exercise of procedural rights and ordered the plaintiffs to bring a written motion to the RSJ in Central West for transfer of the proceeding.
The action was stayed pending that determination.
