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What details should I include in a Small Claims Court claim or defence in Ontario to meet the material facts rules?
For Ontario Small Claims Court and Civil Procedure pleadings, include only concise, non-technical material facts with reasonable certainty and detail, such as the date, place, and nature of the occurrences for a claim and the reasons for disputing the claim with a reasonable amount of detail for a defence, and avoid pleading evidence, micro-detail about how you will prove facts, irrelevant or scandalous allegations, or facts that are not provable or cannot affect the outcome. In Stedfasts v. Dynacare Laboratories, 2020 ONSC 8008, material facts are those you are entitled to prove at trial and that can affect the determination of rights, while pleadings that function as atmosphere or cast the other side in a bad light may be struck. DK Legal Practice can help you draft or revise claim and defence wording to focus on material facts and reduce strike-out risk, call (416) 906-6663 today.
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Factual Details Required Within Pleadings
The details stated within a lawsuit document, being either a claim or defence, must proper accord with court rules. Details within a lawsuit document may be improper if irrelevant, if scandalous, if embarrassingly containing details that shine a poor light on other persons, or if inherently unprovable. Improper allegations should be struck out and removed figuratively or even literally.
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The Law
The Rules of the Small Claims Court, O. Reg. 258/98 as well as the Rules of the Civil Procedure, R.R.O. 1990, Regulation 194, address the requirement of detail within pleading documents. Specifically, the Rules of the Small Claims Court and the Rules of the Civil Procedure state:
7.01 (2) The following requirements apply to the claim:
1. It shall contain the following information, in concise and non-technical language:
...
ii. The nature of the claim, with reasonable certainty and detail, including the date, place and nature of the occurrences on which the claim is based.
9.02 (1) The following requirements apply to the defence:
1. It shall contain the following information:
i. The reasons why the defendant disputes the plaintiff’s claim, expressed in concise non-technical language with a reasonable amount of detail.
25.06 (1) Every pleading shall contain a concise statement of the material facts on which the party relies for the claim or defence, but not the evidence by which those facts are to be proved.
As provided within the procedural rules above, the pleading documents in a lawsuit are to include material facts stated in a clear and concise manner. What is a material fact, and the restrictions upon how a material fact should be stated was well explained in Stedfasts Inc. v. Dynacare Laboratories, 2020 ONSC 8008, wherein it was stated:
[30] Material facts include facts that the party pleading is entitled to prove at trial, and at trial, anything that affects the determination of the party’s rights can be proved; accordingly, material facts includes facts that can have an effect on the determination of a party’s rights.[6] A fact that is not provable at the trial or that is incapable of affecting the outcome is immaterial and ought not to be pleaded.[7] A pleading of fact will be struck if it cannot be the basis of a claim or defence and is designed solely for the purposes of atmosphere or to cast the opposing party in a bad light.[8] As described by Riddell J. in Duryea v. Kaufman,[9] such a plea is said to be “embarrassing”.
[31] “Material” facts include facts that establish the constituent elements of the claim or defence.[10] The causes of action must be clearly identifiable from the facts pleaded and must be supported by facts that are material.[11]
[32] A pleading shall contain material facts, but it should not contain the evidence by which those facts are to be proved.[12] Pleadings of evidence may be struck out.[13] The prohibition against pleading evidence is designed to restrain the pleading of facts that are subordinate and that merely tend toward proving the truth of the material facts.[14]
As per Stedfasts, a case proceeding in the full Superior Court, pleading evidence, meaning pleading the factual details as to how the material facts will be proven, is micro detail and is prohibited by the Rules of the Civil Procedure. Simply said, alleging a material fact is proper; however, alleging the evidence that is available to prove the material fact is improper. Furthermore, while the Rules of the Small Claims Court are silent about the impropriety of pleading evidence, doing so remains frowned upon. Furthermore, if a Small Claims Court case is, for some unforeseen reason, transferred to the full Superior Court, a Small Claims Court pleading that contains pleadings of evidence, may become problematic in addition to improper.
Conclusion
The rules of pleading should be carefully adhered to. Pleadings, whether as a claim document or as a defence document, should contain only material facts without stooping to using a pleading document to engage in character attacks or for making prejudicial statements. Only statements that are relevant should be contained within a pleading.
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