Lawyer supports temporary halt to civil jury trials
Windsor lawyer Greg Monforton has thrown his support behind an initiative to eliminate civil jury trials in Ontario courts, at least on an interim basis.
“Right now, the best alternative is to, at the very least temporarily eliminate juries so to significantly eliminate the backlog and increase litigants’ access to the courtroom,” said Monforton, a personal injury lawyer.
Monforton, and all 12 lawyers in his law firm, responded to a call by Attorney General Doug Downey, looking for input on a proposed legislative amendment that would eliminate some or all civil jury trials.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made the previous backlog, which saw cases take anywhere between nine months and two years on average to get to trial, worse, Monforton said. All in-person court proceedings were put on hold in March.
Some non-jury cases have continued through remote hearings.
“COVID -19 ... in effect, has hugely flamed the fires of delay,” he said.
A spokesperson for Downey said Downey is working with people in the legal community to develop new ways of conducting matters that would support a reduction in court backlogs and an increase in access to justice for the people of Ontario.
“As part of these ongoing efforts, the Attorney General has sought the input and perspective of justice partners on a potential, permanent amendment to the Courts of Justice Act to eliminate some or all civil jury trials,” said Jenessa Crognali via email.
“While robust discussion on this has been happening in the justice community for decades, this formal input from the judiciary and legal profession will help to inform next steps.”
Monforton said it’s “very common” in civil cases and especially in personal injury cases that a jury trial is requested. Either side can make the request and he said it happens “well over 75 per cent of the time.”
Civil cases are tried in the Superior Court of Ontario, which also handles a wide array of other types of cases including criminal, family law act and domestic abuse cases.
Monforton said with 11 Superior Court judges in Windsor and priority given to criminal and family laws cases, civil litigants must wait.
And a “typical” personal injury case in front of a jury can last two to three weeks or longer because of the complexity and number of witnesses called, whereas a judge-only trial typically takes less than half the time because there is a “smaller element of instruction.
“A lot of time goes into making sure the jury is appropriately, what they call charged, and instructed in the law and the standard of proof they need to apply.”
Monforton said many personal injury clients are out of work and unable to access rehabilitation or other services that they may need.
“In the case of a personal injury claim for an innocently injured person, justice delayed is justice denied,” he said. “We’re not looking for an all-encompassing, forever-and-a-day elimination of juries.
“What we’re calling for is at the very least a temporary and possibly interim, we don’t have a timeline that we’re imposing, … elimination of juries for civil trials so that people can get into the courtroom and have their cases resolved.”