ARTICLE
23 December 2024

Is Time On Your Mind? Part One

LL
Lerners LLP

Contributor

Lerners LLP is one of Southwestern Ontario’s largest law firms with offices in London, Toronto, Waterloo Region, and Strathroy. Ours is a history of over 90 years of successful client service and representation. Today we are more than 140 exceptionally skilled lawyers with abundant experience in litigation and dispute resolution(including class actions, appeals, and arbitration/mediation,) corporate/commercial law, health law, insurance law, real estate, employment law, personal injury and family law.
Are there items yet to be checked off your daily, monthly, or yearly to-do list? With the end of the year fast approaching...
Canada Ontario Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration

Are there items yet to be checked off your daily, monthly, or yearly to-do list? With the end of the year fast approaching, this blog kicks off a series on the importance of timely action when pursuing lawsuits in Ontario. In legal matters, time is always of the essence.

Section 4 of the Ontario Limitations Act, 2002 establishes a general two-year time limit (a limitation period) to make a claim from the date the claim is discovered. While exceptions to this limitation period exist, it is the focus of this blog.

Section 1 defines claim as a "claim to remedy an injury, loss or damage that occurred as a result of an act or omission." In Kaynes v BP p.l.c., the Ontario Court of Appeal stated that a claim is pursued in a court proceeding to obtain a remedy for a loss caused by another.

Section 5 of the Limitations Act, 2002 dictates that claims are discovered when the person with the claim, or a reasonable person in the circumstances, first knew, or would have known each of the following:

  1. the injury, loss or damage occurred;
  2. the injury, loss or damage was caused by or contributed to by an act or omission;
  3. the act or omission was that of the person the claim is made against, and
  4. a proceeding would be an appropriate way to seek to remedy the injury, loss, or damage.

The two-year limitation clock starts ticking on the earlier date of either when the person with the claim discovered it or when a reasonable person would have discovered it. In other words, if the person with the claim is the person who discovered it, that individual cannot extend the limitation period because a reasonable person in similar circumstances would have discovered the claim on a later date. The opposite is also true: the person with the claim does not get to extend the limitation period because they discovered the claim on a date later than a reasonable person would have discovered it.

It is important to be aware of the time constraints to commencing lawsuits in Ontario. A successful limitations defence is a complete bar to a claim. People being sued should consider if the claim was brought too late. People planning to sue should avoid delays.

While year end is often a race to complete tasks before the year is up, the New Year can be a time for discovery. The next blog in this series on limitation periods will be devoted to the complicated and nuanced issue of discoverability, specifically the factors used to determine when a claim was, or should have been, discovered. The concept of discoverability can, in certain circumstances, extend a limitation period beyond two years from the date of injury or loss. Stay tuned.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
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