{"id":102,"date":"2025-06-05T16:13:59","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T16:13:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/civiljusticewatch.ca\/?p=102"},"modified":"2025-06-05T17:00:43","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T17:00:43","slug":"ontarios-proposed-civil-justice-reforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/civiljusticewatch.ca\/?p=102","title":{"rendered":"Ontario\u2019s Proposed Civil Justice Reforms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by David Sterns on April 14, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Discovery<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

LITIGATORS\u2014and everyone who cares about access to justice:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the next two weeks, I\u2019ll be highlighting how Ontario\u2019s proposed civil justice reforms will erode access to justice\u2014particularly for individuals, small businesses, and victims of fraud, abuse, or systemic wrongdoing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

One of the most troubling aspects of the proposal is how it distorts the idea of \u201cefficiency.\u201d In reality, these reforms will drive up costs, create procedural bottlenecks, and delay meaningful resolution\u2014especially for those least able to absorb the impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Requiring plaintiffs to marshal their trial evidence at the very outset\u2014before meaningful discovery\u2014and sharply curtailing rights of disclosure will mean:
\u2022 Higher upfront costs for individuals and small businesses
\u2022 More flying blind, leading to last-minute amendments, wasted judicial resources, and costly do-overs
\u2022 Fewer early settlements, because parties won\u2019t have the information they need to resolve disputes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, large institutional defendants will still control the flow of information\u2014with litigation teams and internal records at the ready. Plaintiffs will be left making critical decisions in the dark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s not efficiency. That\u2019s procedural inequality disguised as reform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you work with vulnerable clients or in complex litigation, now is the time to engage. The consultation is open until June 16, 2025. We are preparing access-to-justice\u2013focused submissions and welcome others to contribute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s make sure well-intentioned reform doesn\u2019t put justice even further out of reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please email me at dsterns@sotos.ca<\/a> if you\u2019re interested. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

#AccessToJustice<\/a> #CivilReform<\/a> #OntarioLaw<\/a> #Litigation<\/a> #FraudVictims<\/a> #RulesOfCivilProcedure<\/a> #JusticeForAll<\/a> #LegalReform<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by David Sterns on April 14, 2025 LITIGATORS\u2014and everyone who cares about access to justice: Over the next two weeks, I\u2019ll be highlighting how Ontario\u2019s proposed civil justice reforms will erode access to justice\u2014particularly for individuals, small businesses, and victims of fraud, abuse, or systemic wrongdoing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"no-feature-img","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[14,15,18,20,17,16,19],"class_list":["post-102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-urgent","tag-accesstojustice-2","tag-civilreform-2","tag-fraudvictims","tag-justiceforall-2","tag-litigation-2","tag-ontariolaw-2","tag-rulesofcivilprocedure-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/civiljusticewatch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/civiljusticewatch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/civiljusticewatch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civiljusticewatch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civiljusticewatch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=102"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/civiljusticewatch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":147,"href":"https:\/\/civiljusticewatch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102\/revisions\/147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/civiljusticewatch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civiljusticewatch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civiljusticewatch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}