New Rules of Court Update – The Transition Rule
Reasons for judgement were released today interpreting and applying Rule 24 (the transition rule).
In today’s case (Willard v. Mitchell) the Plaintiff was injured in a motor vehicle collision. The Defendant brought a motion to compel the Plaintiff to produce various medical and business records. The lawsuit was commenced under the former rules of court. The motion for production was also filed under the former rules but judgement was not delivered until October, 2010.
Mr. Justice Brooke ordered production of the documents the Defendant requested. Prior to doing so the Court stated that the former Rules of Court applied to applications filed prior to July 1, 2010. Specifically Mr. Justice Brooke held as follows:
[24] Both the present action and application were filed before July 1, 2010, when the new Supreme Court Rules came into effect. Rule 24?1 of the new civil rules provides that a proceeding started before that date will proceed under the new rules, with this exception:
Step in ongoing proceeding
(14) If a step in a proceeding is taken before July 1, 2010, the former Supreme Court Rules apply to any right or obligation arising out of or relating to that step if and to the extent that that right or obligation is to have effect before September 1, 2010.
[25] In my view, the defendant’s application for discovery of documents constitutes a step in a proceeding that was taken before July 1, 2010, and the right or obligation will have effect before September 1, 2010. Accordingly, the former Supreme Court Rules, and specifically Rule 26 governing the discovery and inspection of documents, continue to apply to this application.