Now that Small Claims Court is starting to pick up again, and hearings are finally being scheduled, (sometimes more than one a day!) I’ve noticed a lack of civility amongst legal professionals and litigants in general.
For example, a client recently discovered they were sued and as usual in the circumstances, I reached out to the representative to get their Affidavit of Service to find out when our client was served, but also get an update on the status of the matter. Instead of providing the information I requested, which was more than reasonable in the ordinary course of litigation, I was told “if you wish to know the status, please contact the Small Claims Court.”
In my twenty-year career, I’ve never been told by a lawyer or a paralegal to go to Court to get an update on a file they have control over.
Normally, we would receive the Affidavit of Service and be advised what stage the matter was at. We would then try to come to an agreement to have the matter move forward and if not, a Motion would be brought and the Motion dealt with on its merits.
Instead, we’re forced to bring a Motion which will take several months to be scheduled and heard, instead of coming to an arraignment amongst ourselves which would allow the matter to move forward in a more expeditious manner.
A self-represented Plaintiff consented to our request before the Court, only to rescind that consent after the hearing, on the basis that they believe our client doesn’t have a Defence and therefore should not have the opportunity to defend itself (for the record, they did have a Defence) in Court.
This resulted in us bringing a Motion, which delayed the matter by 4 months. We ended up getting our Order, but this caused a further delay with scheduling. The best part being, the Plaintiff never showed up to the Motion! Frustrating however, we were not awarded costs as we requested.
Has COVID caused a lack of civility?
There is a time and place when you need to be firm in your position. Silly uncivility that is only going to cause delay and unnecessary costs isn’t worth it just to give the other side a hard time.
Sometimes we don’t want to be civil to an opposing party because feelings are felt, however, there is no place for feelings in Court. Sometimes being reasonable when you don’t necessarily want to be is in everyone’s best interests including your own.
Murray Brown, Licensed Paralegal