The Federal Courts Rules have been amended to introduce several miscellaneous changes. These are varied and largely of a housekeeping nature, including matters such as the dates of general sittings, allowing for respondents who wish to appear in support of an application, and changes to the timing requirements for filing motion materials.
Other than certain amendments to Rule 34, the amendments came into force on February 7, 2013. The amendments will be published in the Canada Gazette on February 27, 2013.
Amendments were made to the following areas:
i) Dates for general sittings. Rule 34 is amended to give greater flexibility to schedule motions days (the Federal Court publishes a schedule of its general sittings). The amended dates for general sittings are:
- Ottawa: as of February 7, 2013, general sittings have been changed from every Tuesday and Thursday to every Wednesday and on any other day fixed by the Chief Justice;
- Toronto and Vancouver: starting August 7, 2013, general sittings will be every Monday and on any other day fixed by the Chief Justice;
- Montreal: starting August 7, 2013, general sittings will be every Tuesday and on any other day fixed by the Chief Justice;
- Provinces other than Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia: as of February 7, 2013, general sittings will be at least once per month on a day and place fixed by the Chief Justice.
ii) Timing to file motion materials. Rules 362, 364(3) and 365(1) are amended to provide the Court additional time to prepare and read the documents filed for motions. Under the amended rules, the notice of motion and motion record must be filed at least three days prior to the hearing of the motion, and the responding record must be filed no later than 2:00 PM two days prior to the hearing of the motion.
iii) Notices of appearance for respondents in applications. Rule 305 and Form 305 are amended to allow for respondents who wish to appear in support of an application. The Rules previously only allowed for respondents who wished to appear to oppose an application (following the jurisprudence in Sepracor Inc, 2008 FCA 230).
iv) Other miscellaneous amendments.
- Rule 65 is amended to require that the print in documents submitted to Court — including all reference in the document – shall be in 12-point Times New Roman, Arial or Tahoma font;
- Rule 280(2), regarding expert affidavits taken as read into evidence by the witness, now only requires leave of the Court and not consent of all parties;
- Rules 309(2) and 310(2) have been amended to eliminate the need to file an affidavit attaching the certified record or portion thereof, which is already part of the Court record;
- Rule 385(1)(a) is now more reflective of the general principle set out in Rule 3 by providing that a case management or Prothonotary can give any direction “or make any orders” necessary for the just, most expeditious and least expensive determination of the proceeding on the merits; and
- new Rule 316.1 applies to ex parte applications and sets out exceptions to general procedures and which documents need not be served.
Kyle A. Ferguson, Toronto
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