Court jammed with traffic ticket cases

Because of COVID break, system faces ‘avalanche of files’ to dig through

Traffic cases making their way through Ontario’s court system are stuck in gridlock thanks to COVID-19.

Court proceedings for driving charges like speeding, disobeying signs, stunt driving and other non-criminal provincial offences under the Highway Trafff f halt during the pandemic, according to members of the legal community.

The growing backlog of cases has put a financial strain on lawyers and paralegals who specialize in traffic issues, and has reportedly led prosecutors to start dropping charges in some less serious cases.

The courts are “developing an avalanche of files that they’re

g to have a significant problem in processing,” said Frank Alfano, a Toronto-based paralegal. “They’ve come to a screeching halt.”

A spokesperson for the Ontario court of justice acknowledged “that a significant number of Provincial Offences Act cases have been adjourned” due to COVD-19, but the court “has been working since the beginning of the pandemic with the Ministry of the Attorney General and the municipally-administered Provincial Offences courts to return to operations in a safe manner.”

Not all provincial driving charges end up in court. But drivers receive court summons for more serious charges, and people charged with a less serious offence can request a trial if they want to fight it. The Ministry of the Attorney General couldn’t immediately say this week how large the COVID-19 backlog is, but in 2019 close to 300,000 Highway Traffic Act charges were disposed of at trica

, according to the Ontario court of justice.

The court suspended in-person hearings for provincial offences in March when the pandemic hit.

Plans to resume have been repeatedly delayed, and last month the court advised inperson proceedings won’t start again until after Jan. 22, 2021, a date that could be pushed back if the province doesn’t get the pandemic under control.

Trials aren’t being held remotely, but in July the court started hearing early resolution guilty pleas via audio conference, and has since expanded audio hearings to nontrial proavg as guilty pleas and withdrawals, well as some trial components like closing submissions and sentencing. But paralegals who spoke to the Star said most of the remote proceedings that are allowed haven’t been happening because the courts don’t have the technology set up.

Alfano said that in a normal year he and his partner would make 1,800 appearances for clients on provincial traffic charges. Since March, he’s made only about a dozen, all by phone.

He said he’s taking a financial hit on traffic cases, but other parts of his practice are enough to keep him going. His partner has taken a job building kitchens while they wait for the courts to reopen.

Marian Lippa, of Lippa Legal

Services in Vaughan, said provincial driving offences usually make up about 60 per cent of her business, but she’s had no appearances for them since March. The freeze is “a financial hardship,” she said.

Lippa said that as the backlog has grown, prosecutors have started to withdraw charges her clients were facing for offences like speeding or disobeying signs.

Brian Gray, a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Attorney General, said that throughout the pandemic the ministry “has aken decisive action to keep Ontarians safe and uphold the administration of justice.” He referred questions about withdrawals to municipal prosecutors that handle traffic cases in provincial court.

They couldn’t be reached Friday evening.