Don´t Panic And Attorn, As What Is Attorned Cannot Be Unattorned

A couple of months ago I received a panicked call from a prospective client in the southern United States. His company had been served with a Complaint issued in Ontario and he had just realized that its Answer was due the next day. He was desperate to buy some time, and, in a surprising display of knowledge of Ontario's rules of court, he suggested filing "one of those notices that provides you with an extra ten days to file an Answer".

The notice that he was referring to is a Notice of Intent to Defend, which, when filed within the time limit for the filing of an Answer will extend the time for the delivery of an Answer by ten days. However, for foreign litigants, the filing of such a Notice must be given careful consideration as it may be deemed to constitute attornment to the jurisdiction of the Ontario courts. As such, you may lose the ability to challenge the Ontario court's jurisdiction simpliciter.