Freeman v. Belmont Tire Corp., 2015 SKQB 170

• Judge: Schwann, J.
• Court: Court of Queen's Bench of Saskatchewan (Canada)
• Case Date: June 17, 2015
• Jurisdiction: Saskatchewan
• Citations: 2015 SKQB 170;(2015), 477 Sask.R. 150 (QB)

Freeman v. Belmont Tire Corp. (2015), 477 Sask.R. 150 (QB)

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [2015] Sask.R. TBEd. JL.002

Stacy Freeman (appellant) v. Belmont Tire Corporation (respondent)

(2014 QBG 1176; 2015 QBG 218; 2015 SKQB 170)

Indexed As: Freeman v. Belmont Tire Corp.

Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench

Judicial Centre of Regina

Schwann, J.

June 17, 2015.

Summary:

Belmont brought a Small Claims Court claim against Freeman for a debt. Freeman filed a "Dispute Notice". A case management conference led to a resolution (Freeman to pay $3,000 to settle debt) and was adjourned to May 23 to allow for payment. On May 23, Freeman did not appear at the reconvened conference and did not pay. Belmont was awarded default judgment for the full amount of the claim. Freeman promptly appealed the default judgment, but never served Belmont. Belmont argued that the appeal was a nullity for lack of service.

The Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench dismissed the appeal for want of jurisdiction. The court found it unnecessary to decide the lack of service issue.

Courts - Topic 8145

Provincial courts - Saskatchewan - Small claims - Jurisdiction - General - Appeals - The Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench stated that "Section 39 of The Small Claims Act, 1997 permits an appeal to be taken to the Court of Queen's Bench from a judgment made in the Small Claims Court. Section 40 expressly provides that an appeal brought under s. 39 is not a trial de novo but an appeal on the record. Consequently, this Court has no power sitting in appeal to rehear or retry a case, and the appellate function is limited to one of correcting for error of law and reversing unreasonable findings of fact." - See paragraph 14.

Courts - Topic 8155

Provincial courts - Saskatchewan - Small claims - Judgments - Setting aside - Belmont brought a Small Claims Court claim against Freeman for a debt - Freeman filed a "Dispute Notice" - A case management conference led to a resolution (Freeman to pay $3,000 to settle debt) and was adjourned to May 23 to allow for payment - On May 23, Freeman did not appear at the reconvened conference and did not pay - Belmont was awarded default judgment for the full amount of the claim - Freeman promptly appealed the default judgment, but never served Belmont - He wished to present a defence and have the matter determined on the merits (i.e., set aside the judgment) - The Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction - Section 37 of the Small Claims Act gave a defendant 90 days to apply to set aside the default judgment and have the matter re-heard - Such applications "must" be made to the Provincial Court, not the Court of Queen's Bench as had been the practice prior to the enactment of s. 37.

Counsel:

Stacy Freeman, self-represented;

Gerald Hendry, for Belmont Tire.

This appeal was heard before Schwann, J., of the Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench, Judicial Centre of Regina, who delivered the following judgment on June 17, 2015.