Ontario Court Of Appeal Gives Teeth To Summary Judgment Rule

On December 5, 2011, the Court of Appeal for Ontario released its long-awaited decision concerning the province's new summary judgment rule (Rule 20). As anticipated, the Court confirmed the expansive breadth of the motion judge's jurisdiction under the amended Rules, signaling a marked departure from the circumscribed judicial role that had developed under the former Rules. In so doing, the Court made it clear that such jurisdiction was not unbounded and that the summary judgment procedure will not be appropriate in all cases. To the contrary, in keeping with the principles that animated the broader 2010 amendments to Ontario's civil justice system, the Court confirmed that the application of new Rule 20 will ultimately be governed by considerations of "proportionality".