Summary Judgment - Simplified Rules

This is our third post on the Court of Appeal's decision in Combined Air Mechanical Services Inc. v. Flesch, 2011 ONCA 764.

The Court seems to suggest that summary judgment may not be appropriate generally in Simplified Rules actions. The Court stated that although in appropriate cases, a motion for summary judgment in a r. 76 action may be a useful tool to promote the efficient disposition of cases, "it will often be the case that bringing a motion for summary judgment will conflict with the efficiency that can be achieved by simply following the abridged procedures in Rule 76." The Court held that summary judgment in r. 76 cases should be discouraged where there is competing evidence from multiple witnesses, the evaluation of which would benefit from cross-examination, or where oral evidence is clearly needed to decide certain issues. In many cases, the better course is to proceed to a speedy trial.

The Court did qualify its comments by indicating that it was not stating that summary judgment could never be used in Simplified Rules actions; in a document driven case, or in a case where there is limited contested evidence, both the full appreciation test and the efficiency rationale may be served by granting summary judgment in a simplified procedure action.

Given the Court's comments, it would seem that few summary judgment motions will be brought in Simplified Procedure actions.

- Tara Pollitt