Myth Of Trial No Longer Governs: Alberta Embraces New Summary Judgment Test

Effecting a cultural shift, a new summary judgment test has been embraced by the Alberta Court of Appeal in Windsor v Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd, 2014 ABCA 108 [Windsor]. This new test will make it easier to obtain summary judgment, which is a final disposition of a lawsuit without having to go through a full trial.

Windsor follows the Supreme Court of Canada's recent ruling in Hryniak v Mauldin, 2014 SCC 7 [Hryniak]. In Hryniak, the Supreme Court considered the Ontario summary judgment rule and overruled earlier authority that largely restricted the availability of summary judgment. The Supreme Court described summary judgment as a legitimate alternative model of dispute adjudication, rather than simply a method of weeding out unmeritorious claims. The procedure is intended to provide litigants with a less expensive and more timely method of obtaining access to justice, and dispose of the need for a full trial in appropriate cases.