Landmark Ruling: Partial Lift Of Stay Allows Immediate Payment Of $1.8 Million Judgment

In Ontario, a party that successfully obtains a judgment for the payment of money by a defendant is unable to collect payment if the defendant appeals that judgment. Once an appeal is launched from that judgment, the obligation of the defendant to pay the plaintiff is “stayed”, meaning that the judgment is not payable until after the appeal is completed. The stay rule makes sense because if an appeal succeeds then the amount payable under the judgment will no longer be payable.

However, the time and expense of litigating means that the stay rule can result in hardship for the party holding the judgment. The hardship is exacerbated by a backlogged court system where an appeal can cause considerable additional delay and expense for a party that already had to spend money and wait years to obtain a judgment. This creates unfair leverage for a defendant who is willing to make use of the appeal process and can then offer to settle by making immediate payment of a