Submissions in open court

Today's Court of Appeal decision in Palkowski v. Ivancic, 2009 ONCA 705 reminds us of the importance of allowing parties to make submissions in open court.

The Court, in a summary paragraph, writes:


[1]              This appeal is about the attempt of a motion judge to deal with a routine pleading motion in an efficient and cost-effective manner.  The motion judge carefully prepared for the motion ahead of time and called the parties' counsel out of the courtroom into her anteroom to receive her disposition without affording them an adequate opportunity to make submissions.  I would allow the appeal because the motion judge erred by failing to provide counsel with a proper opportunity to make submissions before deciding the matter and because she erred in her disposition of the motion. I also find that the motion judge erred by failing to hear the motion in open court, but given the other grounds for allowing the appeal, I find it unnecessary to consider whether this failure would vitiate the decision she made.
James Morton
1100-5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4

416 225 2777