On February 28, 2024, the Ministry of the Attorney
General of Ontario released an important notice to the public and
to the profession, reinstating a rule that was suspended during the
COVID pandemic that will impact the management of civil claims
before the Superior Court of Justice in Ontario.
Effective May 13, 2024, court staff will
resume issuing and serving administrative dismissals and orders for
delay.1 As a result, per rule 48.14 (1) of
the Rules of Civil Procedure, all civil matters,
excluding matters before the Commercial List in Toronto as well as
actions brought under the Class Proceedings Act, will
be subject to a firm five-year term to be set down for
trial.2
From March 16, 2020, to September 13, 2020, the Ontario courts
implemented a suspension of all time periods on claims while the
courts were closed as a result of Covid-19. When the courts
reopened these timelines were reactivated, however a direction was
made to put a pause on the issuance of
