No Amendment to Pleadings - Section 137.1(6)

• Author: David A. Potts; Erin Stoik
• Pages: 389-397

389

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No Amendment to Pleadings—Section 137.1(6)

LEGISLATION

Courts of Justice Act, RSO 1990, c C.43:

No amendment to pleadings

137.1(6) Unless a judge orders otherwise, the responding party shall not be

permitted to amend his or her pleadings in the proceeding,

(a) in order to prevent or avoid an order under this section dismissing the

proceeding; or

(b) if the proceeding is dismissed under this section, in order to continue the

proceeding.

The Rules of Civil Procedure, RRO 1990, Reg 194, are implicitly based on sev-

eral premises, including that they should be f‌lexible, because circumstances

change and lawyers occasionally make mistakes that need to be remedied.

In order to prevent circumvention of the objectives of the anti-SLAPP

legislation, section 137.1(6) will become the subject of further litigation as

time passes.

This section is a departure from the rule that amendments are usually

now allowed as a matter of right (see rule 26 of the Ontario Rules of Civil

Procedure and rule 6-1 of the British Columbia Supreme Court Civil Rules, BC

Reg 168/2009).

REFUSED AMENDMENTS

Able Translations Ltd v Express International Translations Inc, 2016 ONSC 6785 at paras 34

and 57–58:

[34] In addition to creating a fast-track process for summary dismissal of def-

amation claims arising from expressions of public interest, the reforms apply