Employment & Labour Law Alert - Summary Judgment And Wrongful Dismissal Claims

In our July 2009 Alert and our 2009 Year in Review we summarized the upcoming amendments to the Rules of Civil Procedure (Ontario) and discussed their impact on wrongful dismissal matters. On January 1, 2010 the changes took effect, including: changes to the discovery rules, an increase to the simplified procedure monetary limit ($100,000), an increase to the Small Claims Court monetary limit ($25,000) and changes to the rules governing summary judgment.

With regards to the changes to summary judgment in particular (discussed below), we suspected more wrongful dismissal claims would be taken to summary judgment early in the litigation process. A recent Ontario Superior Court of Justice case, Cockshutt v. Computer Facility Services, has provided some useful commentary respecting the appropriateness of bringing a motion for summary judgment in a wrongful dismissal action.

What is Summary Judgment?
Summary Judgment is a procedure by which a party in a court action can bring a motion using affidavit evidence (i.e. sworn statements and documents) seeking either a dismissal of the claim or judgment (including partial judgment) depending upon who initiates the motion without the time and cost of a full trial.

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