The Jury's Out: Doran V. Huls, 2021 ONSC 3291

• Published date: 07 May 2021
• Subject Matter: Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Trials & Appeals & Compensation
• Law Firm: McLeish Orlando LLP
• Author: Ms Lindsay Charles and Brandon Pedersen

The defendant's jury notice was struck in the recent Thunder Bay decision in Doran v. Huls, 2021 ONSC 3291.

Background

This action arose as a result of a motor vehicle collision that occurred in December 2013 in Thunder Bay. At the pre-trial conference in October 2019, the matter was placed on the civil jury sittings running list commencing January 2021 for a 10-12 day trial. Civil jury trials were suspended in March 2020 and continue to be suspended for the indefinite future.

Positions of the Parties

The plaintiffs submitted that it is unknown when civil jury trials will resume in Thunder Bay. The trial coordinator advised that no civil jury trials be scheduled in 2021. If the jury notice is not struck, it would be nine months (at the very earliest) before this matter is adjudicated. This delay will prejudice the plaintiffs in terms of the annually-increasing deductible under the Insurance Act, the continued erosion of the plaintiff's loss of income claim, and the ongoing burden of the inability to pay for medical treatment.

The defendant argued that the potential prejudice caused by the delay does not outweigh the defendant's right to a jury trial. The defendant argued that the increased efforts to vaccinate the population gives reason to be optimistic that the pandemic will be curbed by July 2021, and therefore this is an appropriate case to adopt the "wait and see" approach.

Analysis & Disposition

In reviewing the prevailing legal principles, the Court stated:

[12] The right to have an action tried by a jury is a fundamental right that should not be interfered with without just cause or cogent reason. It is not absolute and must sometimes yield to practicality. The right is qualified as it is subject to the power of the court to determine that the action proceeds without a jury. (Louis v. Poitras, 2021 ONCA 49 at para. 17)

The onus is on a moving party to prove that the Jury Notice ought to be struck and the court must decide whether the moving party has shown that justice to the...