Brave New World! The Cost of Proportionality in Will Challenges and Guardianship Disputes: Discovery, Summary Judgment and the Courts' Discretion in Fixing Costs

• Author: Justin W. de Vries and Angélique Moss
• Pages: 273-300



BraveNewWorldTheCostof

ProportionalityinWillChallenges

andGuardianshipDisputes

DISCOVERY SUMMARYJU DGMENTA ND THE

COURTSDISCRETIONINFIXINGCOSTS

JustinWdeVriesandAngéliqueMoss*

Recent amendments to Ontarios Rulesof Civil Procedure Rules have

introduced sweeping changes meant to make the c ivil justice system

moreaordableandaccessibleThechangesarethemostsignicantina

generationlitigationinOntar iowillnotbe thesameAmongthe chan-

gesisthe additionoftheproportiona lityrulea sanoverarching princi-

pleofinterpretationTherearealsosignicantrevisionstothediscovery

andsummaryjudgmentrules

Thispaperdiscusseshowthesechangesarelikelytoaectwillchal-

lenges and g uardianship litigation under the SubstituteDecisions Act

SDAIn particular this paperconsiders thedicu ltiesin herent

inapplyingthe principleofproport ionalitytoe stateandgua rdianship

litigationwheremonetaryconcer nsarerarelyifevertheonlyinterests

drivingthelitigationThispaperarguesthatthecourtsandcounselneed

tobea lerttot heseconcernswhendeterm iningt hescopeof discovery

bringing motions for summa ry judgment and the exercise of judicial

discretioninxi ngcosts

Giventherecentrulechangesthecurrenthotbuonissueinboth

willchal lengesandaackingpowersofaorneyist heimpacttheprin-

cipleofproportionalit ywill haveonestateandguardianshipdisputes

Putanotheralbeitmoresceptical waywilltheprincipleofproportion-

 OfdeVRIESLITIGATIONTorontoOakville

 RRORegRulesasamended

 SOcSDAasamended

JWVAM

ality havea chill ingeec ton estate and guardianship disputes tot he

detriment of bonadeissuesthatcanb edevileventhebestfamilies

A TH EPROP ORTIONAL ITY RULEITSORIgI NS

ANDUSEASANOVERARCHINgPRINCIPLE

TherecentrevisionstotheRulesineectasofJanuaryarebased

onJustice Coulter AOsbor nesrecommendations int heCivil Justice

Reform Project Summary of Findings a ndRecom mendationsCivil

ReformJusticeOsbornewascommissionedbyOntariosAorneyGen-

eralintorecommendreformstotheciviljusticesystemsoitwould

bemoreaccessibleandaordabletoOntariansTh isconcernforaccess-

ibilityand aordabilityismost obviouslyreectedinRulethe

proportionalityruleT heproportionalityru lestemmedfromoneofthe

mostsignicantreformsrecommendedbyJusticeOsborne

AsJusticeOsbornedescribeditinhisreportproportionalit ymeans

thatthetimeandexpensedevotedtoaproceedingoughttobepropor-

tionatetowhatisatstake

ConsequentlyJusticeOsbornesleadingrec-

ommendationtotheRulesCommieewhichwaschargedwithrevising

anddraingtheRuleswast hefollowing

The RulesofCivilProcedureshouldincludeasanoverarchingpr inciple

ofinterpretationthatthecourtandthepart iesmustdealwiththecase

inthe manner thatis proportionate towhatis involvedthe jurispru-

dentialimportanceoft hecaseandthecomplexityoft heproceeding

TheRulesCommieeadoptedJustice OsbornesrecommendationRule

nowprovidesasfollows

GeneralPrinciples

These rulessh allbe liberally construed tose curet hejust

mostexpeditiousandleastexpensivedetermi nationofeverycivilpro-

ceeding on its merits.

Inapplyingthese rulesthecou rtshallma keordersandgive

directions thatareproport ionatetothei mportanceandcomplexit yof

theissuesandtothea mountinvolvedintheproceeding

Proportionality hinges onthe assumption that lessprocedure will

makelegal services more aordableand consequentlyt hejustice sys-

 JusticeCoulterAOsbor nesreportNovemberisfoundonlineww w

aorneygeneraljusgovoncaenglishaboutpubscjrp

 Ibidat